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Arizona Diamondbacks beginning pitcher Wade Miley throws for the duration of the initial inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Sunday, May 20, 2012, in Kansas City, Mo.

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Wade Miley pitched seven sharp innings, John McDonald drove in the 1st run with a bunt single and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Kansas City Royals two- Sunday.

Miley (5-1) restricted the Royals to five hits even though throwing 99 pitches. The rookie walked two and struck out three, sending Kansas City to its 17th loss in 22 property games this season.

David Hernandez and J.J. Putz each pitched an inning to finish off the shutout. Putz earned his ninth conserve in 11 opportunities.

Jeff Francoeur had four of Kansas City’s seven hits to match his profession high. It was Francoeur’s 10th 4-hit game and initial since Aug. 23, 2011, at Toronto.

Paul Goldschmidt led off the Diamondbacks fifth with a double, stopped at third on Aaron Hill’s single and scored on McDonald’s bunt single that first baseman Eric Hosmer failed to field cleanly.

Correct-hander Nate Adcock (-two), just recalled from Triple-A Omaha and generating his 1st commence of the season, held Arizona to 5 hits and one particular run over five innings.

The Royals got four runners to third base—Francoeur in the second and fifth, and Billy Butler in the fourth and eighth—but failed to get them property. They went for 5 with runners at third and for 7 with runners in scoring position.

Francoeur tripled off the appropriate-field wall with two outs in the sixth for Kansas City’s only added-base hit. Alex Gordon grounded out to end the inning.

The Royals’ greatest likelihood

to score came in the fourth. Butler led off with a walk and advanced to second on Francoeur’s single before Gordon moved up each runners with a groundout. Miley, even so, pitched out of danger by retiring Hosmer on an infield popup and Brayan Pena on a grounder.

The Diamondbacks manufactured a run without having a hit in the eighth. Gerardo Parra led off with a walk and Ryan Roberts sacrificed. Greg Holland’s wild pitch allowed Parra to reach third and Justin Upton hit a sacrifice fly to proper.

The Royals had been shut out for the fourth time. They are two-8 when the opponent starts a left-hander.

NOTES: Royals manager Ned Yost juggled his lineup again, batting 2B Johnny Giavotella leadoff and 3B Mike Moustakas third for the first time this season. Giavotella became the seventh Royals player to bat first in the first 40 games. … The Royals open a 3-game series Monday at Yankee Stadium, their only trip this year to New York. RHP Felipe Paulino, who beat the Yankees on Could 5 and did not allow a hit till the fifth inning, will begin the opener. The Yankees will counter with RHP Hiroki Kuroda. … The Diamondbacks return home Monday to host the Dodgers. In a Could 14 game at Los Angeles, LHP Clayton Kershaw threw a pitch behind Arizona ace Ian Kennedy. When Kershaw batted in the fifth, Kennedy came in with a 1st-pitch fastball that created Kershaw bail out. Each teams had been issued a warning right after that by the plate umpire. “I do not have any animosity,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson mentioned. “I just play baseball. It really is just component of the game. Nobody even got hit. I don’t believe anybody was throwing at anybody. The league report says they weren’t throwing at each and every other. If people get hit, it really is no large deal. I don’t care.” … Arizona RHP Daniel Hudson, a 16-game winner final season who is on the disabled list with a proper shoulder impingement, will make a rehab start Monday for Triple-A Reno.

Ian Kennedy RHP, three-three, 3.81

Bruce Chen LHP, 2-4, four.34

A victory today, and Arizona would be assured of a winning road-trip. Which would not be significantly of a surprise, since going in to this contest, the Diamondbacks are the only team in the NL West in possession of a record above .500 away from property. It is been the dismal performances at Chase, exactly where Arizona are 7-12, that has sunk us in the initial quarter of the season. Still, an additional game in Kansas City, against the Royals and their four-16 record at property, should hopefully keep issues moving in the appropriate direction.

Line-up right after the jump, and very good to see a familiar face back in his accustomed spot.

1. Willie Bloomquist SS
2. Aaron Hill 2B
3. Justin Upton RF
4. Miguel Montero C
5. Chris Young CF
6. Jason Kubel LF
7. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
8. Cody Ransom DH
9. Ryan Roberts 3B
   + Ian Kennedy P

Yep, possessing created it back into the line-up as our designated hitter yesterday, Young returns to patrol center-field nowadays, with Ransom taking more than that spot. Fascinating alternative: I’d perhaps have employed Kubel to DH, and place Parra in left, on the basis that (Parra’s defense – Kubel’s defense) &gt (Ransom’s bat – Parra’s bat), which is truly how the math of that one particular performs out. Offense hasn’t been a issue that final couple of days for Arizona, and hopefully this will continue. That, and a very good outing from Kennedy, ought to do the trick.

One night immediately after Oklahoma City hammered Reno pitchers for 16 runs and 22 hits, Bauer holds the RedHawks to a single run for the duration of Triple-A debut.

FROM STAFF REPORTS | Published: Could 20, 2012 Oklahoman    Leave a comment

Reno 2, RedHawks 1

RENO, Nev. — The Arizona Diamondbacks’ leading pitching prospect, Trevor Bauer, created his Triple-A debut late Friday night and did a quantity on one of the Pacific Coast League’s greater batting orders.

Bauer struck out 11 in eight innings of function, helping Reno defeat Oklahoma City 2-1 before 5,487 fans at Aces Ballpark. Bauer held the RedHawks to just 4 hits and a single walk. The impressive outing came a night after the RedHawks mashed five Reno pitchers for 16 runs and 22 hits, each season highs for Oklahoma City.

Reno (21-21) scored single runs in the third and sixth innings against Oklahoma City starter Aneury Rodriguez. The RedHawks’ only run came on Landon Powell’s homer in the eighth inning.

SOSA’S RIGHTS SOLD

Pitcher Henry Sosa, who was 2- with a five.12 earned run average in six begins with Oklahoma City this season, had his rights sold to the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization. The move was made by the Houston Astros with Sosa’s consent.

The appropriate-hander was acquired by Houston final season in a trade with the San Francisco Giants. Sosa was three-5 with a 5.23 ERA in 10 starts last summer for the Astros, who sent infielder Jeff Keppinger to the Giants.

From Staff Reports

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Arizona vs. Kansas City

Arizona Diamondbacks (18-22) at Kansas City Royals (15-23), 7:15 p.m. (ET)

(Sports Network) – The Arizona Diamondbacks hope continue the climb towards the best of the NL West standings as they resume a seven-game road trip in game two of a three-game weekend series against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Following winning the initial game of the series 6-four, Arizona has won three of the 1st 5 games throughout the road trip and is currently third in the NL West behind Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The Diamondbacks twice had to battle back in the first game of the series. Miguel Montero put the Diamondbacks ahead for good with a two-run double in the eighth inning that broke a four-4 tie. Montero also had an RBI double in the first and completed the game two-for-4 with three runs batted in. Justin Upton had his very first multi-hit game considering that Might 5th in the win.

Joe Saunders got the start for Arizona in the game and went six innings, permitting 3 runs on eight hits, but did not element in the choice. Brad Ziegler earned the win despite blowing a four-3 lead in the seventh. J.J. Putz pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his eighth save of the season.

Luis Mendoza could not get out of the sixth inning and allowed 4 runs but it was Kelvin Herrera who took the loss permitting two runs over 1 1/three innings of function for Kansas City.

Humberto Quintero had a two-run double in the game and Irving Falu and Johnny Giavotella each and every had two-hit games in the losing effort for the Royals, who have lost 3 straight.

Bruce Chen has improved more than every single of his three starts in May possibly and will appear to hold that trend going against Arizona. In his final start against Texas, Chen went 6 two/3 innings and did what most pitchers have not been able to do this season in taming the vaunted Rangers offense. Chen allowed just 1 run and tied a season high by striking out seven batters in the game.

The commence was his greatest so far this month and featured the fewest runs surrendered by the left-hander to an opponent given that he threw six shutout innings on Opening Day against the Angels.

Chen’s seasons stats, even though not eye popping (2-four, four.34 ERA), speak to his ability as a trustworthy starter. He has also been in a position to eat up innings for the Royals as he has gone at least six frames in six of eight begins so far this season.

This will be Chen’s 10th look against the Diamondbacks but only his fourth profession start against them. In the nine preceding appearances Chen has picked up just 1 win to go with two losses and a five.24 ERA in 22 1/3 innings pitched.

On the other side of the diamond, Ian Kennedy gets the start for Arizona. Kennedy has had some decent numbers but is nonetheless attempting to capture what led him to 21 wins a season ago. Kennedy won the first three decisions that he factored in this season but has lost the last 3.

On the year Kennedy is three-three with a three.81 ERA, which is far behind the 2.88 ERA he had a season ago when he completed fourth in the NL Cy Young voting.

Kennedy’s last begin was a solid effort in which he went six innings and allowed just two runs but nevertheless took a loss as the Diamondbacks’ bats fell silent in a 3-1 loss to the Dodgers. Poor run help has plagued the correct-hander this season. In Kennedy’s three losses Arizona has averaged just one particular run per game.

Following spending his first 3 season in the majors with the New York Yankees, Kennedy has some familiarity with the American League but not a fantastic deal against the Royals. In 3 career appearances, two of which had been starts, Kennedy is 1- with a 3.21 ERA. General Kennedy has not crossed over to the opposite league properly with a profession five.76 ERA in interleague play.

Kansas City and Arizona will be meeting in consecutive seasons for the second time in their team’s histories. Last season the Diamondbacks swept the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Surprisingly the road team has been the aggressor in this short-lived series with the away team winning eight of the final 10 meetings.

BOX SCORE

Immediately after giving up three runs in the fifth, Madison Bumgarner was steaming mad. But it wasn’t clear if MadBum was upset with the umpire or his defense. Or both.

But manager Bruce Bochy stated the source of the Giants’ troubles on Friday wasn’t the umpire or defense. It was the offense.

And you know what? He has a point.

The defense had its problems … once more. Brandon Crawford committed another error that led to an unearned run. There was one more Arizona hit that Crawford must have snared, and Miguel Montero had a double that must have been caught by Brett Pill in left for the third out of what became a 3-run inning.

Regardless of all that, the Giants can’t expect to come to Arizona, score a single run and hope to win a game.

“This offense has got to get going,” Bochy stated. “We just didn’t have quite good at-bats right now. Defense, sure there were a couple of errors. I just feel that you are going to break out at some point. We scored five runs in the series in L.A. and then come in here and score one particular. That is not going to perform.”

And it wasn’t that the Giants only scored 1 run. It is that they didn’t come CLOSE to scoring another.

Melky Cabrera got the Giants on the board with a property run in the first inning. After that, the Giants only got one particular runner as far a second base the rest of the game, and that came in the seventh when Justin Upton dropped a fly to appropriate off the bat of Buster Posey for a two-run error.

That’s as close to a rally that they got.

The Giants’ other hits: a one-out single by Hector Sanchez in the second, and two-out single by Angel Pagan in the sixth, a two-out single by Aubrey Huff in the eighth and a one-out single by Cabrera in the ninth.

Oh, and the quantity of instances the Giants walked on Friday: ZERO.

UP Next

Matt Cain takes on Trevor Cahill at 5:10 p.m. Saturday. The Giants didn’t face Cahill in their season-opening series. The last time the Giants saw Cahill, he was pitching for the Athletics. He restricted the Giants to two runs on six hits in 14 innings against them in 2011. The results of these two games were a two-1 win for the Giants on May possibly 20 and a two-1 win for the A’s on June 19. Oh, and who did Cahill face on the June 19th win? Matt Cain. Yeah, it’s going to be one of These days.

We heard rumblings that Huff could get his 1st begin Saturday because coming off the DL. If that is true, here’s our best guess at Saturday’s lineup.

1. CF Angel Pagan
2. 3B Conor Gillaspie
3. RF Melky Cabrera
4. C Buster Posey
5. 1B Brandon Belt
6. LF Aubrey Huff
7. 2B Joaquin Arias
8. SS Brandon Crawford
9. P Matt Cain

Might 17, 2012|Reuters

Manager Kirk Gibson cut the batting practice groups from 15 minutes to ten whilst splitting a two-game series in Los Angeles, and the D-backs also had a small much less activity ahead of a 6-1 loss to Colorado left-hander Jamie Moyer at Coors Field on Wednesday.

“We just feel like our personalities, when you get frustrated and issues are not going great, you function tougher. We decided to simplify our thought method and our physical stuff. We are trying not to get them to function as a lot, just more effectively and smarter,” stated Gibson, whose team has lost 11 of its last 14.

Some of the D-backs worked out in the weight space at the team hotel in Los Angeles, and the relief pitchers normally spend the afternoon of a game on a lengthy run. They ran via the National Mall two weeks ago on a cease in Washington, D.C.

“Everyone is operating out in the weight rooms. They like to hit a lot. Sometimes when factors are not going excellent, you overdo it. So we attempt to do less of that,” Gibson stated. “The greatest point about this game is to know you can do it. We’ve been a quite technical team lately. We’ve been genuinely looking a lot. (Monday) night issues came much far more all-natural to us on all fronts. That’s what we’re looking for.”

Throttling down has worked ahead of. The D-backs had a number of “show-and-go” games on their final East Coast swing last season. The 1st came when an earthquake delayed the begin of an Aug. 23 game. After winning that game, the D-backs did not take early hitting in the final two games of the series, and they won each.

For Gibson and the grinders on his coaching staff, it is a matter of “do as they say, not as they do.” On the initial quit of the trip, third-base coach Matt Williams led the D-backs on a circuitous run through Dodger Stadium that also included time in the parking lot.

“When items are going incorrect, I can tell you, coach-wise, we go tougher. That’s how we are. We do not want our players to be like us,” Gibson stated.

———————————————–

MLB Team Report – Arizona Diamondbacks – NOTES, QUOTES

–CF Chris Young will continue his rehab assignment at Class AAA Reno on Thursday following going four for 13 with a grand slam, 3 doubles and seven RBI in 3 games at Class A Visalia from Monday to Wednesday. Manager Kirk Gibson did not rule out Young rejoining the team this weekend in Kansas City, exactly where he could be used as a DH to give his shoulder one more a number of days of recovery. He has missed 26 games with a sprained shoulder suffered when he ran into the fence although producing a catch April 17.

–2B Aaron Hill continued his success against Colorado LHP Jamie Moyer with a single and a walk in 3 plate appearances. Hill is 12 for 28 (.429) with three house runs against Moyer, and he also stole third base easily immediately after reaching on an infield error in the third inning.

–RHP Daniel Hudson (shoulder) threw 54 pitches and gave up two earned runs in 2 1/3 innings against Oakland in an extended spring instruction game Wednesday, his first game because going on the disabled list right after an April 18 start against Pittsburgh. “Felt great to get back into a game circumstance nowadays. Command nevertheless not very up to par, but nonetheless have a couple of bullpens and an outing to fix,” Hudson stated in a tweet. Hudson is scheduled to start off for Class AAA Reno on Could 21 and could rejoin the D-backs later in the month. Asked if one start off in Reno would be enough, Gibson was coy. “It might be. It might not be,” he said.

–3B Cody Ransom drove in the D-backs’ only run Wednesday with a seventh-inning double, his fourth double of the season. He also has four residence runs and 13 RBI in 46 at-bats. INF Ryan Roberts has been getting most of the playing time at third base over the final week as Gibson attempts to get him back in a groove.

–LHP Wade Miley extended his hitting streak to six games with a single in the fifth inning of his 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday. Miley (four-1) also is hitting when it counts: He is 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

BY THE NUMBERS: 26 years, 243 days — The distinction in age amongst D-backs’ LHP Patrick Corbin and Colorado LHP Jamie Moyer, who faced each other Wednesday.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “We just really feel like our personalities, when you get frustrated and things aren’t going great, you perform harder. We decided to simplify our believed procedure and our physical stuff. We are attempting not to get them to work as much, just a lot more efficiently and smarter.” — Manager Kirk Gibson, on cutting back the workload on this road trip.

———————————————–

MLB Team Report – Arizona Diamondbacks – ROSTER REPORT

MEDICAL WATCH:

Justin Upton broke into the huge leagues for the Arizona Diamondbacks at the ripe age of 19. He jumped right into a pennant race with the Colorado Rockies and seasoned the kind of success that had the Key League Baseball planet buzzing about him and his team. He was drawing comparisons to players like Ken Griffey Jr. and getting pinned as a prospective Hall of Famer.

Fast forward five years, and Upton is coming off his greatest season in the massive leagues following hitting over 30 residence runs and batting .289. He was finally beginning to reach his potential.

Forty games into this season he is placing up Albert Pujols-type numbers. In any other season, a Diamondback fan would be ecstatic to hear this. Pujols has two residence runs and is batting around .200.

The answer is no, Justin Upton is not the player we envisioned when he was drafted out of high school as a shortstop. He has turn into an underachieving, inconsistent baseball player that lacks the leadership and killer instinct it takes to ascend to superstar status.

First of all, one of the hardest things to do in any sport is reside up to the hype. The expectations put on this guy were absurd. That getting stated, he has still massively underachieved. Yes, he is only 24 years old, but this is also his sixth season as a massive leaguer and he should be dialed in by now.

Though it is nonetheless early in the season and everyone about him is in a slump as nicely, this argument is warranted as the team is falling out of the race nicely ahead of All-Star break.

Diamondbacks fans cringe every single time Upton swings at a low slider breaking away from him. The guy has struck out on that precise identical pitch for six years now and has not created the adjustment to either lay off of it or pull a Tony Gwynn and place it amongst the two infielders. Each time I see that shoulder and hip fly wide open I want to send him down to Visalia just to wake him up.

Upton lacks that killer instinct that we see in all wonderful athletes. It’s that instinct that allowed Tiger Woods to sink those 12-foot putts when he required a birdie on the last couple of holes of Augusta year immediately after year, that eye of the tiger Michael Jordan needed to send a game into overtime at the buzzer.

Justin Upton has shied away from all of these moments in his profession to this point. No. 10 does not have the “get on my back” mentality that it takes to be “the guy” for his team. Yeah, it is cute when the camera follows him to the dugout following a strikeout only to see him throw a temper tantrum by smashing his bat into the bat rack or spiking his helmet to the ground. While that has been ignored in preceding years, it really is time to develop up a little bit and begin the maturation method.

Upton bats in the 3-hole for the Snakes. There is no more important slot in any lineup than the third spot. With the exception of possibly a single or two lineups, that spot is reserved for each and every manager’s very best hitter.

Upton has been in that spot in each and every game he has began this season with the exception of a single, when Kirk Gibson moved him into the two-spot to get him out of his funk (to no avail, clearly). He has continued to strike out and is abysmal with runners in scoring position this season. He is not living up to the function of a three-hitter, let alone a superstar or for that matter, an All-Star.

A lot more than anything else, Justin Upton has not assumed a leadership function on or off the field. He has in no way been mentioned seriously as one particular that commands respect behind closed doors. Upton defers automatically to those who have a lot more experience or seniority than he does (which is not numerous players at this point).

It is increasingly frustrating as a fan to hear stories of how players like Derek Jeter, Jason Varitek, Jimmy Rollins or David Wright seized that role at a quite young age, only for Upton to makes excuses to the media about how hard it in fact is to drive in runs. Rather than taking responsibility for leaving those runners on base and vowing to operate harder to make positive that occurs less frequently, he tries to explain to the lowly fan how hard it is. Rumors of Upton coming into education camp out of shape this year produced this no less complicated to swallow. He possesses no high quality that tends to make those around him greater.

Maybe Upton demands his buddy Chris Young to hold his hand in order for him to succeed. Up to this point, Upton has failed his team and he has failed himself.

It has gotten to the point where a fan sitting in an office chair is bashing him for a handful of hundred men and women to read. According to the guy in the workplace chair, that is pretty pathetic.

My hope is that Upton eventually reverts back to the player that Arizona fans, such as myself, loved to watch play the hardest game in the globe with our team in front. But at this point, I have no such hope for you, Mr. Upton.

Every single week, we pay a visit to with a Diamondbacks player to talk baseball and off-the-field subjects.

Query: You went 88 at-bats between homers after hitting one in your initial at-bat on Opening Day. How did you not get as well down on your self?

Answer: Simply because this is baseball, it takes place all the time. You do not actually have an additional alternative. You have to remain confident.

Q: Your hitting coach, Don Baylor, had you operating on an intriguing drill. Can you speak about that?

A: Yeah, it is a drill exactly where you happen to be on 1 knee and swinging off the tee. It makes you go straight to the ball. You’ve just got to drive straight through it.

Q: And tell us what does that assists you do?

A: Instead of getting your bat loop underneath and make your swing longer, it really is going to shorten you up and get you on top of the ball. It’s much more to aid your bat path and get direct to the ball.

Q: Was this your initial time utilizing that sort of drill?

A: It really is the first time I’ve ever accomplished it on a single knee. You’re usually conscious about not trying to get a loop in your swing. Obviously, whenever you have a little bit of success it feels very good, so I do not know, we’ll see.

Q: What mental positives do you take from it?

A: The factor I liked about it was when you take a poor swing, you are really in a position to really feel it. You really feel the very good ones, too, but when you take a bad 1, you actually feel the difference. It’s always challenging when you cannot tell the difference among a very good and a negative swing. But with this, you can say, “Oh, wow. That felt various. That was bad.” Or if it was good, then you can try to repeat that.

Q: Effectively, Albert Pujols went longer between residence runs than you did. Was that any comfort?

A: (Laughs) Nah, you know as a player it is going to come. It really is just element of the game. It is just that if you struggle in the very first month of the year it’s a lot larger story.

Q: Were you self-conscious about the drought, even though?

A: No. You recognize how it is. You cannot attempt to hit residence runs. Effectively, I cannot. Maybe some guys can. I knew eventually it would come.

Stephen Drew is just weeks away from his return to the Arizona Diamondbacks and they could really use him.

He offers speed on both offense and defense as effectively as a veteran presence in the clubhouse. MLB.com reported that Drew lately played a nine-inning extended spring training game and is due back in late Could.

The Diamondback offense has been substandard so far, as they are beneath the league typical in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage and are averaging just 4 runs per game. They have also performed poorly in fundamental regions, struggling to make productive outs and move base runners.

Stephen Drew is a solid hitter but isn’t going to win a triple crown. What he offers to the offense is a player with critical added-base possible. Drew has 51 triples in his profession and in his last three complete years he’s had 11, 12 and 12.

A single issue that holds the team back from scoring a lot more runs is their struggles in situational hitting. A excellent way to kill momentum is to ground into double plays. Drew is amongst the league’s finest right here as he only grounds into double plays on 5 percent of his opportunities for his career. The league typical is 11 percent.

One more essential situation in baseball is getting a runner at third base with much less than two outs. The league typical for hitters driving that run in is 50 percent. In 2011, Drew was at a tremendous 74 percent in these situations. These single runs here and there are the difference in a lot of games.

Drew also performs quite nicely in some really essential baserunning circumstances. Ahead of finding hurt final year, Drew was taking the extra base 47 percent of the time. This year, the league typical is 42 and the Diamondbacks are at a terrible 35 percent. Stretching doubles into triples, going from very first to third and finding from second to residence are simple ways to score much more runs.

Is Drew going to turn the Diamondbacks into the leading offense in the league? No, but he will be enough to stabilize what is a struggling offense proper now.

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The Rockies’ Jamie Moyer, 49, is in his 25th season in the majors. He had a two.28 ERA through 4 begins.

A lot more on this topic

D-Backs vs. Dodgers series | Box score | Twitter

UP Subsequent: DIAMONDBACKS at ROCKIES
When: Wednesday @ 5:40 p.m. | Complete schedule
Where: Coors Field, Denver.
Television: FSAZ | Radio: 620 AM, 106.9 FM, 710 AM.
Pitchers: Diamondbacks LHP Pat Corbin (two-1, 4.50) vs. Rockies LHP Jamie Moyer (1-three, four.66).

Notable: In beating the Giants last week at Chase Field, Corbin turned in his greatest begin so far. He gave up just 3 hits and one run in seven innings. He did not concern a walk whilst striking out 4. In three begins, he has walked five and struck out 12 in 16 innings. He threw a higher rate of strikes against the Giants than he had in his initial two begins — 65 percent of his pitches. … On April 17, Moyer, 49, threw seven innings to beat the Padres and turn out to be the oldest pitcher to win a main-league game. He is in his 25th season in the majors. He had a two.28 ERA through four begins, but his past 3 have been rocky. He’s allowed 14 runs in 15 innings. In the past two starts, he’s fallen apart in the fifth and sixth innings. He has a 2.40 ERA against the Diamondbacks, most lately facing them in 2009 as a member of the Phillies. 2B Aaron Hill has a .423 average (11 for 26) with three homers vs. Moyer.

Upcoming starting pitchers
Thursday: At Colorado, 12:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Trevor Cahill (2-4, 3.65) vs. Rockies RHP Juan Nicasio (2-1, four.65).
Friday: At Kansas City, 5:10p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Joe Saunders (2-three, three.43) vs. Royals RHP Luis Mendoza (2-two, 4.76).
Saturday: At Kansas City, four:15p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ian Kennedy (three-3, three.81) vs. Royals LHP Bruce Chen (2-4, four.34).

The Republic‘s 2012 MLB predictions

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