Beginning pitcher Luke Weaver played with an ideal game and gave the D-backs the team’s first series win of the year alongside a genuinely necessary quality beginning in a 7-0 triumph over the Cincinnati Reds at home on Sunday.
“The results are kind of agreeing with the way I felt,” Weaver said of his day. “I guess ultimately it felt really good to be able to go out there and do that.”
Weaver permitted one hit, two walks and no runs in seven innings of work with eight strikeouts.
“To put together the work I’ve been putting in ever since last year and just trying to hone in those little adjustments, and it finally came to fruition and I was able to stay on the attack,” he added.
He threw 63 of his 94 pitches for strikes. He is currently 4-0 in six career begins against the Reds.
“It was a pretty special day for Luke Weaver. There’s no way to get around it,” manager Torey Lovullo said postgame.
“He throws up seven zeros, has a perfect game for the majority of the game, has a no hitter for an inning beyond that and he put up those zeros while he allowed the offense to go out and do what it did.”
Weaver began the game with strike outs of red-hot outfielders Tyler Naquin and Nick Castellanos in the first inning. He had phenomenal order of his four-seam fastball and his changeup, utilizing a variety of speeds and pinpoint precision to successfully rule players early on.
Weaver kept on controlling the strike zone in the second, striking out shortstop Eugenio Suarez and another hot player in third baseman Mike Moustakas, who struck out twice against Weaver.
Weaver didn’t permit a base runner until the 6th inning when he hit pinch hitter Alex Blandino with a pitch, finishing the chance of an ideal game. He at that point permitted another walk and a single to Suarez in the seventh inning that finished his no-hitter.
Regardless of simply missing the achievement, Weaver was as yet dominant in the trip, crediting having a forceful demeanor that supported in his methodology.
“I think it’s an emotion where it doesn’t get too big or too small, but there’s definitely an edge,” he admitted. “There’s definitely a little bit of like ‘I’m coming right after you’, especially in the first inning, you’re trying to set the tone.
“To be able to come out and feel sharp right away I think just lets your side and their side know it’s game time and there’s got to be an adjustment from their side because I am not deviating from my plan until you make me.”
The team of David Peralta and Eduardo Escobar kept on remaining secured at the dish and did some harm upsettingly.
Escobar doubled to leadoff the second and scored the team’s first run on a Pavin Smith RBI single. In the fifth inning, he stretched out his home run streak to four games with a 2-run dinger that scored Peralta.
He’s the first D-backs player to hit a home run in four sequential games since Mark Trumbo in 2014. He was 2-for-5 with a double, home run, two RBI and two runs scored.
With two on in the third, Peralta added to the lead with a three-run dinger that scored Josh VanMeter and Christian Walker. The Freight Train was 2-for-4 with a double, home run, a walk, a ru, and three RBI.
“Those innings are built. We did a good job of getting runners on base, and then David, who has a knack for getting the job done at the most crucial moments of the game, comes up and basically breaks the game open,” added Lovullo.
The D-backs improve to 4-6 on the season and will go head to head with the Oakland An’s at Chase Field on Monday. Madison Bumgarner will begin in Game One with first pitch set for 6:40 p.m. Tune to 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station for all the activity.