The Arizona Diamondbacks continue their six-game road trip as they travel to Cleveland to take on the Guardians in a 3-game series starting Monday night. The Diamondbacks are battling the Rockies for last place in the NL West Division as both teams sink further behind the top teams in the division. Cleveland, meanwhile, is very much in the hunt for the AL Central Division crown and remain just behind front-running Minnesota. The pitching matchup for Monday's opener will feature right-hander Cal Quantrill (7-5, 3.97) of the Guardians while the D-Backs are undecided at the moment as two of their starting five pitchers have recently been put on IL. First pitch is scheduled for 710pm EST.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have shown improvement from last season but are still very much sellers as the trade deadline approaches on Thursday. On Saturday the Diamondbacks parted with outfielder David Peralta, sending him to Tampa in exchange for a minor league catcher. The Diamondbacks still have a number of veteran pieces that could help a contender so it will be interesting to see which direction Arizona takes in the coming days. Over the weekend, the Diamondbacks offense was held in check by Atlanta's pitching, scoring just two runs in the first two games, back-to-back losses. On Sunday, in the series finale, the Diamondbacks' lineup continued their struggles as they were held scoreless and had just four hits in a 1-0 walk-off loss.
Game 101. pic.twitter.com/Ak2LTLKdZx
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 31, 2022
Arizona's offense, already one of the poorer offenses in the league, took another hit with the trading of Peralta. The Diamondbacks are just 19th in baseball in runs per game this season at just 4.3 runs per game. They are also just 17th in slugging percentage on the season. In their last twenty games, the D-Backs have been playing .500 baseball with a 10-10 record. The Diamondbacks may very well make Monday's game a bullpen game as the team has had to shuffle their pitching staff with injuries to starters Zach Davies and Tyler Gilbert. With two fifths of the starting five down in addition to two of the team's relievers recently placed on IL, the team will most likely turn to an opener to make this start.