Before you could grab your hot dog, popcorn, and preferred pilsner beverage, the Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead on a Geraldo Perdomo double, Corbin Carroll single, and a whiff of a tag from catcher Hunter Feduccia.
In the bottom half of the first, Junior Caminero hit a thunderous, sky-scraping blast for his sixth homer in his last 19 innings played. The 43-degree launch angle was matched with a 107 MPH exit velocity, the tallest round-tripper of Caminero’s career.
For the first time in 630 days, Michael Grove got to pitch in an MLB game, and my goodness did he deliver.
Grove retired nine of the 10 batters he faced over three innings, struck out four, all on sliders, and collected the win.
Jonathan Aranda hit his 13th longball of the season in the fifth inning, taking us to 3-1 Tampa Bay.
Ketel Marte would cut the deficit in half with a 430-foot solo shot off of Kevin Kelly in the 8th, and Brian Baker would come on in the ninth with a new light show entrance for save number 21 in 1-2-3 fashion.
The two expansion cousins will have getaway day tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 1:40 PM EST and Merrill Kelly and Dre Rasmussen as the probable starting pitchers.
