The Diamondbacks are coming off their first winning road trip of the season. Part of that success has been more consistency offensively, scoring at least four runs in five of the six games played.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Looking at the Diamondbacks’ offensive success on the road trip, they’ve had some big innings started from the bottom of the order reaching base. With those players on base, the lineup turns over for the team’s best hitters to drive in runs. The bottom third of the order accounted for 14 of the 30 runs scored on the road trip, or nearly half.
It’s similar to how the Diamondbacks built big innings during their postseason run, with Alek Thomas and Geraldo Perdomo reaching from the eighth and ninth spots in the order. When those two got on, it turned over to the top where Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll have opportunities to put up crooked numbers on the scoreboard.
“That’s the type of dynamic at-bats I want us to have,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. “It doesn’t matter where you’re hitting in the lineup. If you know what you’re supposed to do, you’re going to find your way into a productive at-bat, which will help us win baseball games.”
No such example better illustrates that than how backup catcher Tucker Barnhart performed. Barnhart started three games behind the plate, collecting one single and five walks on the road trip, scoring four runs. His three starts account for the highest run totals of the team on the trip and a 3-0 record. Kevin Newman has also caught fire of late, going 6-for-18 (.333) at the plate with three extra-base hits and five runs scored. Jake McCarthy homered in Sunday’s win over the Orioles.
Thanks to the bottom of the order reaching base, it’s set up Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll to drive in runs, which they have. Carroll recorded a five-RBI game on the road trip, thanks to innings built by the bottom third of the lineup getting on ahead of him.
“We’ve got some really good players down there,” said Lovullo. “Every part of the lineup matters. They are tied together one through nine, and they got to link up and find their way to doing their job every single there.”
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
