Brandon Pfaadt Looks to Get His First Career Win vs Reds

The Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Cincinnati Reds in a must-win game for their playoff hopes for the Wild Card

The Diamondbacks(67-61) take on the Reds (67-62) in a big Friday night showdown at 6:40 PM as Arizona seeks to win its sixth game in a row. It's the second of a four-game series after the D-backs took game one behind a marvelous pitching display by Merrill Kelly and the game-winning two-run home run by Corbin Carroll in the 8th inning to put the D-backs on top for good. It was the latest showcase of the Diamondbacks returning to their "Answerbacks" ways and not letting anything deter them. With the win last night, Arizona jumped ahead of Cincinnati for the third Wild Card spot and hold a 0.5-game lead on them. Should they win today, they would move to 1.5 games ahead.

Lineups:

Jake Oliver

The D-backs are running out a strong lineup that features all of their regulars except for the platoon situation at third base where Jace Peterson is facing the right-handed Hunter Greene. Diamondbacks hitters haven't faced Greene often. Only Jace Peterson and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. have hits off him, but Jace is just one-for-nine. Meanwhile, the Reds have not faced Pfaadt except one time. That was in July when he gave up three home runs in an otherwise strong start. Both TJ Friedl and Matt McLain have homered off of Pfaadt. 

Corbin Carroll looks to continue to break out of his recent slump by staying hot. Over his last five games, he's gone 9-17 at the plate. So does Gabriel Moreno who has been an important piece of the offense with players like Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo scuffling. Tommy Pham will seek to get another hit to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. Also, the Diamondbacks continue to prioritize their defense to make sure it's sharp. Defense does win championships and Arizona looks to continue to be the best in the MLB at it.

#Dbacks Working on the basics all hands on deck, infield, pitching coaches and the manager pic.twitter.com/6V01LdItLi

— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) August 25, 2023

Starting Pitchers

Brandon Pfaadt has been on a roll of late. While his season numbers are not good at 0-6, 6.13 ERA, 5.45 FIP, and 19/55 walk-strikeout ratio over 61.2 innings, he's been far better than that. Since being recalled back on July 22nd, when he faced the Reds for the first time and gave up three runs over six innings, Pfaadt has just been getting better. Over six starts, Pfaadt has thrown 36 innings and given up 30 hits, 14 runs, nine walks, and struck out 34. He's improved his home-run issue with just five over that span and none over his last three starts. Pfaadt has a 3.50 ERA and 4.02 FIP during this time frame. He's allowed just a .227 batting average to opposing hitters. 

Hunter Greene just returned from the injured list recently. He's had a strange season as he continues to develop from a velocity thrower to an accurate pitcher. Greene has reverse splits in both of where he pitches and who he pitches to. On the road, Greene has pitched to a 3.31 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 49 innings. At home, he has a 7.24 ERA and 1.79 WHIP. Plus, against left-handed batters, Greene has allowed just a .213 batting average against whereas, against right-handed batters, he's given up a .293 batting average against.

Bullpens

The Cincinnati Reds have most of their pitchers available. Their key weapon, Alexis Diaz, hasn't pitched in a couple of days. He will be available. As for the Diamondbacks, while they used three relievers in yesterday's game, all should be available. Kyle Nelson and Miguel Castro should be able to pitch if they are called upon. While closer Paul Sewald has pitched 10 times in their last 21 games, thanks to the off-day on Wednesday, he should be cleared to go today.

Every game right now is a must-win game. As mentioned yesterday, Manager Torey Lovullo and his team know that the Wild Card situation is going to come down to just one game as to who makes it into the playoffs and who doesn't. The Reds hold the season series right now 3-1 right now. Arizona must sweep them in order to hold the tiebreaker in case they tie with them at the end of the season. The Diamondbacks will look to keep their momentum high and continue to put some distance between them and other Wild Card contenders.