Gurriel Jr. Grand Slam Supports Tommy Henry's Strong Outing
Tommy Henry pitched 5.2 strong innings, striking out a season high eight batters in the Diamondbacks 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a grand slam in the second inning that put the D-backs up 5-0 and the Angels never got close after that.
Angels fans were treated to a massive 493 foot home run to the upper deck in right field from Shohei Ohtani, his 30th of the year, and 15th for the month of June. The pitch was a slider over the middle of the plate. Other than that Henry was terrific all night.
He walked Ohtani on four pitches with one out in the first inning and gave up a single to Mike Trout, but then struck out Anthony Rendon and Mike Moustakas. Over the next four innings he gave up just one harmless single and a walk.
Ohtani’s leadoff solo homer in the sixth was followed by another Trout single but Henry induced a force out and then struck out Mike Moustakas before Torey Lovullo came out to get him. Austin Adams got Hunter Renfroe to pop out ending the threat.
Henry felt that last year and in the beginning of this year his slider was just not a good pitch. But lately it's been his most effective pitch, other than the one he threw to Ohtani, he said with a laugh. "The slider has gotten a little bit better each time out. The confidence in that is growing as well. Now it's becoming a pitch I'm throwing to both sides. I can throw in any count. Hitters having to consider that opens up other doors"
Henry credited the work he has been putting in with pitching coach Brent Strom for helping him reconstruct the pitch from the ground up and he's growing more and more confident in the pitch. Henry's final line was 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8K, 1 HR
The D-backs offense struck for a run in the first inning when Gurriel singled with two outs, and Christian Walker drew a walk, putting Gurriel in scoring position. Evan Longoria smoked a line drive base hit to left field scoring Gurriel. Then in the second inning Angels starter Griffin Canning lost the strike zone, walking three straight batters with two out. Up stepped Gurriel and after working the count full he got a slider in the middle of the plate and didn't miss it, knocking the 6th grand slam of his career into the D-backs bullpen.
Gurriel said after the game that watching the at bats before him he didn't see enough quality pitches from Canning and so was patient and waited for his pitch. He said in that situation he isn't necessarily looking for one type of pitch, but rather he's looking at zones, and trying to hit a pitch in a particular zone.
The bullpen was good tonight. After Adams finished off the 6th for Henry, Miguel Castro worked a scoreless 7th inning. Andrew Chafin pitched around Ohtani to issue a leadoff walk and then Trout reached base on a throwing error by Christian Walker trying to get the force out at second. Ohtani would score on 6-4-3 double play by Rendon and then Moustakas grounded out to third. The run charged to Chafin was unearned. Kevin Ginkel retired the side in order in the 9th to close out the game.
There were a couple of outstanding defensive plays in the game as well. Geraldo Perdomo saved Walker an error on a similar play in the 3rd inning when he dove for a wide throw and scrambled back to the bag to get the force out. Jake McCarthy had a terrific sliding catch of a popup in shallow right, fully utilizing his speed to get to a ball very few outfielders would have gotten to.
The Dodgers won tonight so the D-backs stay 2.0 games ahead of L.A. Game two of the series starts tomorrow night at 7:07 P.M. Ryne Nelson goes against Tyler Anderson.
