Arizona will wrap up its four-game trip to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon. The Diamondbacks got off to a slow start in the series, losing on Monday and Tuesday. This story was published prior to Wednesday night’s third game of the series.
Arizona has been one of the worst teams in baseball overall this season, but it has still shown some the ability to compete since the All-Star break. The Diamondbacks suffered a three-game sweep against Atlanta and then added a loss to Cleveland at the end of July, but they won eight of their following 12 games. They took three out of four against Pittsburgh last week before winning two out of three against Colorado. Arizona was unable to maintain that momentum earlier this week, scoring a combined two runs in the first two games of this series. The Diamondbacks are 10.5 games back of the final National League Wild Card spot.
Merrill is the man.
Coming up ?????????? vs San Fran. pic.twitter.com/n1LZJb2pGS
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) August 17, 2022
Their offense has struggled this season, ranked No. 26 in the majors in batting average (.228). Second baseman Ketel Marte has 96 hits, while right fielder Daulton Varsho has 91 hits. They will be facing a San Francisco pitching staff that is No. 17 with an ERA of 3.90. Right-handed pitcher Zac Gallen is expected to be on the mound for Arizona on Thursday afternoon. He is coming off a dominant performance against Colorado, throwing seven scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and one walk. Gallen has won four of his last five starts, with three of them resulting in seven shutout frames. He has been fantastic overall this season, posting a 2.94 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 125.1 innings.