PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: Ildemaro Vargas WALKS IT OFF After Paul Sewald Blows Save in WILD D-backs Win vs Athletics

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks may be running out of healthy players, but they might have found another arm they can count on. Rookie Kohl Drake was outstanding in his MLB debut, allowing just one earned run over five impressive innings to help lead the D-backs to a 4-2 extra-inning win over the Athletics. Max Kepler stayed scorching hot, launching a three-run homer in the first inning to give Arizona an early lead. But Paul Sewald's second blown save of the season denied Drake his first career win before the Snakes answered in the 10th, with Ildemaro Vargas delivering the walk-off hit. We break down Drake's electric debut, Kepler's immediate impact since joining the Diamondbacks, Gabriel Moreno extending his on-base streak, and whether the bullpen's latest meltdown should cause concern. We also discuss Arizona's growing injury crisis after Drey Jameson became the latest player to land on the 15-day IL with right hip inflammation. Can the D-backs keep finding heroes despite the endless injuries, or is the mounting attrition finally catching up with their playoff hopes? Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX15 at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It took longer than it was supposed to, but the Diamondbacks eventually get the win over the athletics, beating them by a score of 6 to 5. Cole Drake made his MLB debut tonight, and he was outstanding. Unfortunately, it was ruined by Paul Seawald blowing a save. Is it time to move on? We're talking about all this right now. Light up those cactus lights. The Diamondbacks win. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks postgame show.

Love from Studio K, presented by our... Our friends at Circle K, drink it in. Welcome in. Diamondbacks win. Walk it off in extra innings. I am your mayor, occasionally known as Derek Montia. And that is the correct answer to Cameron Cox's tweet about who should be the mayor of Arizona Sports. That was a no-brainer.

I'm joined by my dog, your dog, and definitely Max Kepler's dog. Once again, it is Damon Dog, aka Damon Farrell on the ones and twos. Yo, yo. Bark, bark to you, sir. I know we were going through it tonight. going to be a miserable post-game show if the Diamondbacks did in fact lose this game in the fashion

that it was going. But luckily for all of us, they pull out the win and even the series here with the athletics can go for the series win tomorrow. As always, our show is brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Go download that Bet365 app right now. Use our code of

PHNX365 when you sign up and get yourself some bonus bets. We're also brought to you by the good folks at GameTime. Go download that GameTime app. Create an account and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. And again, make sure you go to games just like this one because this was a fun one,

even though for a moment it wasn't. The Diamondbacks do win this one in extra innings walking off the athletics in 10 innings by a score of 6 to 5. They improve to 52 and 49 on the year. And the debacks are now 7 and 2 since July 9th, which is the best record in the National League since that time frame. I know it's just July 21st.

You can hit that, hit that. But of course, the big story tonight was that the D-BAC's rookie Cole Drake made his debut, and he was really, really good, giving the Diamondbacks five strong innings. Meanwhile, Max Kepler gave the Diamondbacks an early lead and gave Cole Drake plenty of run support in the first inning with a three-run bomb that allowed Drake to. as he said, be himself in this game and pitch how he knows to pitch with that run support. But the bigger story than those two things is the fact that with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Paul Seawald gave up a two-run bomb to tie this game and send it into extra innings.

The athletics, the dive-backs didn't score in the bottom of the ninth, and then the athletics scored in the top, almost taking this game by a score of five to four. But luckily, the debacks were able to load the bases in extra innings and get those two runs across with Ildemarovar Vargas being the big hero there late in this game. But as I said, the first inning started with offense. We got, you know, another day where we were led to believe that the debaq's offense was in fact back. And it turns out we actually weren't as back as we thought.

Ketel Marte kicked things off with a lead off walk. In the first inning, Gabby Moreno would join him on the base path with a two-out single. And then with that single, Gabby Moreno has now reached. reach base safely in 18 straight games and 37 straight starts this season. Incredible stuff, man. I mean, we're going to have more from Tori in the press room after the game as well as the clubhouse. But Tori said Gabby has just been doing it in every way.

His offense has been incredible. He's been by far the most consistent offensive player on this team. And he has done it with patience. A lot of walks for Gabby, a lot of just finding a way to get on base. currently hitting 303 with an 824 OPS. And after he got on base, Max Kepler delivered with a huge three-run homer to give the Diamondbacks an early 3-0 lead

after that first inning. That was Kepler's second home run of the year. And this is just after he delivered with a walk-off win just a few games ago. But now you have this home run, 102.6 miles per hour off the bat, 392 feet to center field. And again, the Diamondbacks looked good early.

And then their bats did what their bats do. Their bats went cold again. After the first inning, the Diamondbacks only mustered up four hits over the next five innings, and everything their offense did was mostly harmless up to that point. But in the seventh and eighth, they were able to kind of get things going again. They weren't able to score in the eighth. They did have Moreno and Kepler both walked to begin that inning, and neither one runner would score.

but in the seventh inning, they also had the first two batters walk. This time it was Vargas and Barrosa. They both walked to kick off that seventh inning. They advance into scoring position on a wild pitch by A's reliever Jeff Hartlebe. And then Marte would bring Vargas home on a sack fly to give the snakes a four to one lead at the time. But that lead would not be good enough, as we said, because the A's would kind of chip away, get back at it, and tie the game eventually sending it into extra innings where they would go ahead and take the lead in the 10th inning,

top of the 10th. But the Diamondbacks in the bottom of the 10th, once again did it with patience. And part of that patience was Gabriel Moreno walking again as a lead-off hitter. Then you had Max Kepler also walking, oh, excuse me, Corby and Carroll started on second base because it was the 10th inning,

and they had the Ghost Runner. So you have Gabby Walk to lead off. you have Kepler walk to move to load the bases and move everyone over and then Nolan Arnado delivers his 2001 first 2001 hit 2000 how do you say that is 2001 hit I don't know but it was not hit number 2001 for Arnaado and it was a big one because that tied the game up at five scoring Corbyn Carroll and then Tim Tawa was disrespected by the athletics who proceeded to bring an outfielder into the infield and have five infielders. If we're not allowing shifts anymore, how the hell are we allowing that crap? And what must it feel like as a batter to just have them

send in a like offensive line across the infield with two guys out like all the space in the outfield to hit to? And they were right because Tim Talley eventually went down on strikes and would not deliver. But Illamaro Vargas, he would deliver. He would come through with a huge RBI single on a ground ball to left field or Tyler Soderstrom. Gabriel Moreno scores. Everybody moves up, but that doesn't matter because the Diamondbacks win the game and they walk off the athletics by a score of six to five. And again, Moreno, big night, but Moreno continues to have knights like this where he's not the hero. He's just a base runner, a very value. A very baseball base runner that ends up coming up big for this team.

Tonight he was one for three with two runs scored with two walks. You had Marte, he was 0 for three, but he had the sack fly, RBI, and he also walked. Perdomo had a double. He was one for five. Corbyn Carroll was one for five with a run scored and two strikeouts. A little concerning from Carol. And then everybody else just kind of had a hit. It was one of those nights where everybody contributed, everybody played a role in this win one way or another.

it was a true team victory and it was needed. It was good to see this team come together after the save was blown and this team had to play more free baseball, especially considering that tomorrow they have a 1240 getaway game. And then the next day they have a dumb ass game with the stupid ass St. Louis Cardinals that easily could have been played, but was it because the Cardinals are a bunch of cowards. But what I will say is there was no quit in this team tonight. and they did an excellent job at coming through in extra innings. Of course, our King Snake is the one, the only dog himself.

Max Kepler once again. Or maybe it's Max Keppel. We'll see. I don't know. Max Kepler. Two for three tonight. One huge home run along with three RBI. And then two walks.

And again, just a guy that has had himself probably the worst year of his life, considering what he's gone. through. The 80 game, you know, being pop for performance enhancing drugs, I'm, I'm not going to ever sit here and, like, defend a player getting caught for a, you know, substance like that, right, for a banned substance. I've heard what he says, and I might be naive, but I do believe that he had no idea this was actually happening to him, or it was a banned substance that he knew was banned and was taking to circumvent the rules in some way. But it doesn't change the fact that an 80 game PD suspension completely ruins your career.

You know, it's hard to come back from that. It's hard to not have your reputation ruined by something like this. And Kepler has been, you know, in Major League Baseball for quite a while now, right? So he's had some big, big games, big moments. And right now for this team, it feels like he's finally through that spring training phase of this season after having that 80 game layoff and has been truly delivering some big hits for this team overall. I just, you know, I think that it's good to see a guy like this getting an opportunity

and redeeming himself. And again, it's good for the Diamondbacks considering how depleted they are. In fact, they lost yet another player due to injury today. And we will go over that before the end of the show. you know I have to bring you down after hyping you up of the win. So that's reserved for segment four. But Kepler has now really put it to the athletics. He has reached base safely against the A's in 15 straight games,

and he is batting 373 with three home runs, 9 RBI, and 8 walks in that stretch. So Stanley says, need Kepler for the playoffs. Got some bad news for you, Stanley. due to a stupid rule when it comes to said 80 game PED suspension, he is not eligible for the playoffs. So hopefully what the Diamondbacks get back by that time is a healthy Jordan Lawler and some other players

that return from the injured list to help this roster because they need it. They're depleted and we're lucky that Corbyn Carroll was able to play in this game today. I know he didn't have the best day. I know he still looks like he's struggling there at the plate, but at least that hyper-extended elbow is not something that's going to make him miss significant time. And he still was able to get a hit today.

So feel at least a little good about that, but would love to see Corbyn back fully. But overall here, this team is just such a weird team. It feels like they have a different hero every single night. And it feels like, honestly, the bullpen has finally gotten to a place where I was actually surprised by Paul Seawald blowing it in the ninth inning. That's on me. Like that's not on them.

That's on me for believing again. But this bullp... The second he gave up that single, Derek, I don't know. I'm sure a lot of debacks fans probably were there with me. But like you see that tying run come up to the plate and it's an Arizona guy and Jacob Wilson who played at GCU. And you just sit there and you go... And you go, you know he's going to put the ball over the fence here. Right when you thought you had this one, one.

I tried to warn them. I tried to warn them. You saw it on Monday. I was like, ha, ha, ha, yeah, but it's the athletics, right? So let's not like automatically assume this is a sweep. And as you and unfortunately, he who shall not be named, both brought up, you know, it was, it feels like this is what happens to the Diamondbacks. And that's what happened yesterday. not only did they lose, they give Mitch Bratt no run support in his outing of work,

and they just looked flat again after such a big win in the finale of that St. Louis Cardinals series. So, again, yes, Mark says, really, you were surprised no one else was. I get it, I get it. But you fall into a rut, especially when it comes to Paul Seawall this year. The man only has one blown save. Now he has two. So it's hard to blame me. I don't feel like it's hard to blame me.

I'm going to say it's hard to blame me because he's been good. He's been good in these situations. However, we're going to talk about if it might be time to move on from Paul Seawald and how honestly this probably wasn't the plan. He probably was meant to be relieved of his duties as a closer before now. And due to setbacks and injuries occurring, that has not happened. So we're going to talk about the pitching, including the amazing debut by, Cole Drake on the other side of this break.

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Speaking of just for me, I did want to let everybody know I am not the Derek that Tori was referring to in the postgame presser. So, sadly, I'm not the one that he won it for. But still, glad they won it. Glad they pulled out the win. And Tori was emotional. Tori was emotional about that. He was emotional about the win and just overall this team coming through on a night

where it very much looked like they were going to let this one slip through, you know, their fingers. And it's unfortunate that Cole Drake doesn't get the win based on how he pitched in his MLB debut, but at least overall the team gets the win. And that's what's important at the end of the day. The rookie was absolutely dialed in for his MLB debut. He walked Shay Langaleeers, who ended up being like the main character at times of tonight's game for the athletics. He did that in the first inning with two outs. But he immediately followed that up with his first big league strike.

out, getting Jonah Haim to go down swinging. Then he had a really, really impressive one, two, three second inning with two more strikeouts. And you honestly sometimes have to evaluate a pitcher when they get themselves in the trouble. And so that's why the second inning and the third inning were both so impressive to me. He breezes through that second inning, again, going one, two, three with two strikeouts. And then he gets into his first major league jam in the third inning. He gives up a leadoff double to Lawrence Butler that was kind of fielded poorly by Corbyn Carroll,

letting it get past him all the way to the wall. Probably would have been a double. But anyway, Lawrence Butler ends up on third base, or maybe he should have been a double with an error on Corbyn. I don't know. If that inside the park home run by Jerry P. the other night wasn't an error, then this one definitely wasn't either. But Alika Williams brought him home with an RBI single.

The D-backs still up three to one at the time. He then hit Jacob, Wilson because he knew what was going to happen later in the game with a pitch, and then he walked Soderstrom to load the bases with no outs. And that was where alarm bells were ringing, and it felt very much like this young man's night was about to take a turn for the worst. Instead, he gets Langalears to line out sharply to the infield. I think it was to Pardomo.

That made everybody stay and kept everybody from advancing. And then he gets Jonah Heim to hit into the 5-4-3 double play to end the inning without any further damage being done. So just a very impressive inning, a very impressive escape act to only allow one run to score there when you had a lead off, triple get hit. And again, loading the bases with no outs and not allowing a single one of those runs to score incredibly impressive. The defense behind him was solid tonight as well.

No mistakes besides really that Corbyn Carroll, you know, fielding error on that Butler triple. And even then, that's questionable. They didn't rule an error, so what do I know? But overall, it was more good pitching after that. In the fourth, he gave up a lead-off single to Tommy White, but then sat down the remaining batters in order, one, two, three. And then in the fifth, he allowed a two-out single to Soderstrom

but got Langalears to strike out to end the inning. And that ended his day overall. And he had a solid night with his pitch usage. His forcing fastball was on point, That was the star for him, but he got some whiffs on his change-up. He got some whiffs on the fastball. I think we have his pitch chart here, if not, no worries about it. We do.

Let's take a look at that. Again, the change-up, the curve ball, there was some bad pitches. There was one pitch that he threw that was a curve ball that bounced like a foot in front of the plate and just kind of bounced in to the strike zone, right? So he wasn't throwing everything perfectly by any stretch of the imagination. But as you can see, once again, there is kind of a pattern here to where his pitches are landing, where he wanted his changeups to be, where he wanted his curveball to land. And he filled up the zone there with his fastball. He was pretty, I mean, he was pretty confident in it.

And he did keep it up in the zone. He did a good job of not throwing too many bad pitches. He used the fastball 48% of the outing. It maxed out at 93 miles per hour and average 91. and he got four whiffs with it. He also got four whiffs with his change-up, which he used 16% of the outing, and four-wifts with his cutter,

which used 13% of the outing. He also had a curb ball in there, which was nearly 20%. He had one whiff on that. 13 swings and misses overall on the night, and that's impressive, because honestly, with the, I guess, the game plan

that the Diamondbacks have been pursuing this year, we have not seen their starters getting a lot of swings and misses. We had Michael Soroka getting them early on when he had those double-digit strikeout games. We've seen Eduardo Rodriguez get it at times when his change-up is really working. But again, 13 whiffs, damn good. And then five strikeouts overall, good night here for Drake.

He said he would take this. He'll take this at any level, giving the Diamondbacks tonight, five innings pitched, four hits, one earn run, two walks, and again, 5K. And you know what that means, Damon. I mean, this Cole Drake at least fed the circle-k strikeout meter. He gave it what it craves, which is at least to be half full. And there we go. Love that strikeout meter.

Love that Cole Drake. Shout out to Cole Drake, man. Good performance tonight. I don't know what the expectation really was. As you've said, Derek, on this show, he's been struggling at times in the miners this year. Oh, my God. He's been so bad with the Diamondbacks. Like specifically, as a member of the Diamondbacks organization, we did a deep dive.

We did a diamond mine on Cold Drake not too long ago. and I remember being very impressed by his numbers overall. What I also remember being impressed by was his ability to bounce back when he did have a bad season or bad, you know, like, struggled. You would see him come back the next year and put up really good numbers. He just hasn't done that with the Diamondbacks in our organization. The biggest problem has been walks. He has been giving entirely too many free passes and they've really come back to hurt him at times. That was not the case tonight.

He only had two walks here in this game and five strikeouts overall. So love that. Also love the fact, Damon, that we didn't even discuss this. But in this series against the athletics, the Diamondbacks have three pitchers pitching that were all involved in the Merrill Kelly trade last year. You got Mitch Bratt and Cole Drake, which the Diamondbacks received from the Texas Rangers along with David Hagamond. in exchange for Merrill Kelly who went to the Texas Rangers. Now in this series, we had Mitch Bratt, we have Cole Drake, and in the finale tomorrow, we got Merrill Kelly pitching.

I wonder if that's ever been done before, and then it will be history. I would like to check into that. I very much would. And it also, once again, reminds me of how we fleeced the Rangers. No doubt about it. Even if Merrill Kelly's contract ends up kind of biting us in the ass and, you know, Cole Drake and Mitch Bratt aren't even that. special of pitchers. It's hard to argue that the Diamondbacks didn't come out with winning that

trade the way it all went down. But it's pretty crazy to have three pitchers in an entire series be two guys that were traded for one guy and that guy who got traded away back on the team that traded him away just a year later. It's wild. It really is. It really is. And I mean, the Diamondbacks need it right now because of how depleted they are. So it's very, it's a huge start tonight. I mean, you hope that maybe you're not without a, you know, a full rotation of pitchers for forever here, you know, especially as the deadline creeps up. But if Cole Drake needs to pitch, if he can give you performances like tonight, that's going to go a long way in towards keeping the debacks afloat. Absolutely. Absolutely. More importantly, like I said earlier,

the Diamondbacks right now are 52 and 49. I know that's not, I know that's not like the best record, right, but being three games above 500 is crucial. Being currently in the final National League wild card spot, even though the pirates technically hold a tiebreaker over us, very important. All of these things are very important because even if the Diamondbacks drift back a little bit, even if they struggle in some of these remaining series over the next 10 days before the end of July, they can still, they still have given themselves at least enough of,

enough hope that I don't know if there's much they could do between now and then to make the front office completely change direction and be sellers when the trade deadline comes around right there's instances where it's beneficial to the team as it was last year where they were at what their record was and with how many of those guys were on expiring contracts with no hope of coming back to this team or resigning with this team after the season was over it felt like it was the right move even though we hated to see it. Now, selling off parts does not feel like the right move because this team definitely feels like the biggest thing that's been holding it back is injury. And they almost become so accustomed to having injuries that it's been working. And I just don't know if another team could have this many rookies

making their major league debut in one season in a tough division like this and still have an above 500 record and still be relevant as far as, playoff postseason discussion is concerned, right? As mediocre as they've been this season and mediocre might even be a little bit complimentary based off of some of the things that we've seen. I mean,

you look at the offensive numbers and the pitching statistics, you would be hard pressed to even say that this team is quote unquote average, right? Like they're below average for the most part, but they've had to deal with a lot of circumstances and hurdles, as you said, Derek, like lots of injuries, lots of people in and out of the lineup. up and they've managed to keep themselves relevant and keep themselves afloat as they got to the

trade deadline and as maybe hopefully knock on wood j mart and corbin burns could potentially come back as well so i i mean it's hard to hard to be mad at it if you're a debacks fan even if the team doesn't really look great like i bet the record is better than probably what the team has shown on the on the field this season as of now j mart's thrown 15 bullpens and just two days ago He threw a live batting practice session. Just wanted to give you guys that update. Hand us the pennant. I have some more injury updates, good and bad, later in the show.

So that's just a preview of what's to come. But we have to talk about this bullpen, and obviously not all of it, because most of it was pretty damn good tonight. You had Clark going in there and doing what he does, quietly giving you an inning pitched with very little fanfare. He lowers his ERA this season down to 2.40. Juan Murillo did walk one bad,

but he got two strikeouts. He continues to be a certified G and a bona fide stud. And as so many of you know, you can't teach that. But then Ryan Thompson had himself a shaky inning. He came out. I think he got an out right away. But then he gave up one of the longest goddamn home runs I've ever seen at Jaysfield to Langaleers.

I mean, it just, he hit that ball. And it went as far, it went as far. away as it did high. It just traveled forever. It was 110.7 miles per hour off the bat and it went, Damon, 444 feet. I think we

had the longest home run of the MLB season get hit tonight by Fernando Tatis Jr. and I believe it went 474 feet. Just to give you an idea of how this ball that went 30 feet shorter distance still went a very very, very long way.

Thompson would then give up singles to Jonah Heim and Tommy White, but then somehow miraculously got Jeff McNeil to hit into the inning-ending double play. That was like a gift from God himself. But then we move on to the ninth inning and oh my God, Paul Seawald. It's time for Paul Seawald to pitch. And I mean, this is another one of those frustrating outings because as much as you want to kick dirt on Paul Seawald's name, it didn't start that way, right?

He comes in, he gets Carlos Cotez to line out to the left fielder, Max Kepler, he gets Lawrence Butler to strike out. And everything's good. No runners on base. We got two outs. We had a four to two lead at the time. Everything looked good. And then he gives up a triple to Donovan Walton

and a home run to GCU's own Jacob Wilson to tie the game up at four. And Seawald was going through it after that inning. He got Tyler Sutterstrom to strike out, but he was not happy. I have never seen Seawald that demonstrative in the dugout before. I will say that it does show how much he truly cares because this is just his second blown save of the season.

And from what I saw with my binoculars, it was a man that was not only upset that he had blown the save and blown the game, but I think that, you know, taking the win away from Cole Drake on his debut. That also probably factored in. Then what I saw Paul Seawald do is I saw him literally turn into the biggest fan of the offense in the dugout. And root his teammates on.

And even though they didn't get the job done in the bottom of the ninth, they did get it done in the top or bottom of the 10th. And again, Kevin Ginkle, amazing. Kevin Ginkle comes into this team or game. He shuts the door. He did give up the one, the Ghost Runner run. but I think he threw like five pitches. It was the fastest 10th inning I've ever seen,

especially with a run scoring. And then the Diamondbacks bottom of the 10th was the exact opposite of that. In fact, I think Max Kepler's at bat was twice as long as the top of the 10th inning was concerned. But like I said, he shut the door and the Diamondbacks get a big win. But we have to talk about policy wall

because it's feeling more and more like we should be grateful and feel lucky that he's only blown two saves rather than feeling confident that he can continue to give this team the type of performance he's given them all year long for the remainder of this season and into the postseason

should the Diamondbacks make it that far. Right? I don't think this was ever the intention. I don't think that they ever were going to completely leave Seawald in this role for the rest, of the year, I think that their hope was that AJ Puck would return and perhaps resume that role. Or maybe once Justin Martinez and AJ Puck both were back that Tory could go to more of that, you know, based on matchups kind of closer in the ninth inning rather than having just particularly one guy.

Instead, what we have is the fact that A.J. Puck may never pitch in a Diamondback's uniform ever again. And at least that Justin Martinez is on his way back. but it still seems like he's going to, he's a bit bit off, right? It's still going to be the same timetable. I think that it always was, which was with J-Mart returning mid-August. There's also the possibility that Ryan Nelson returns in a reliever role. And if that's the case, because it would get him back faster,

the diamondbacks are going to have to do something at the trade deadline in order to supplement the starting rotation. it's something that I kind of fought Damon on, but that was before we lost yet another starter. And that was before Michael Soroka got a setback and Zach Gallen's out here getting second opinions. Soroka should be back soon, right? Soroka's, yeah, Soroka's situation is weird. Again, we're going to go. They were talking about right after the All-Star break, I thought.

That was initially it. But then there was some sort of small setback. Nothing substantial, nothing that would like cause him to miss a tremendous amount of more time, but he was scheduled to throw a bullpen session on July 18th, and again, we didn't really hear it. We heard everything for the most part. It went good for that, but haven't heard much just in regards to what the next steps are. Since he doesn't have to build completely back up, he will be back sooner than like, let's say, any of these other guys as far as once, now that he started his throwing program to get back up there. But it's baseball. And baseball

stupid and you can as a pitcher ever take time off due to any kind of injury without literally needing to go through all of the steps to ramp back up so that you are at 100% and you don't risk injuring yourself by going out there and trying to you know pitch six innings and go 100 pitches when you're not ready for it yet but soroka if you ask saroka he's ready to go out there and give you six innings right now if we're mapping it out just let's just forecast Soroka's back in the next month. So the debacks have him in their plans, I guess, at least, right? He's in the foreseeable future.

Erod, Soroka, right? Brandon fought the way he's been pitching. I think that you can't take him out. Merrill Kelly, you have to assume, you know, continues to be a part of this rotation. And I think that you add a guy at the deadline unless Cole Drake, Mitch Brad, one of these guys just shows you that you absolutely unequivocally cannot take them out of the starting rotation right now, which would be a pretty tall task, I think,

given the limited opportunities they're going to have. It would require a Michael Soroka-like, you know, 10-strikeout performance at the beginning of the season that kind of shut down the idea that he could get kicked out of our starting rotation. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm kind of envisioning those four pitchers as the guys were rocking with the rest of the season, add in one more guy.

that is hopefully kind of like an SP3 that can form out that middle of the rotation a little bit better. Well, I'll tell you, there's still a lot of talk about Corbyn Burns's return. And I think that if it comes down to it, I think our guy, CJ, who is not a big fan of Mike Hazen, was talking about it in the chat. But he was saying he can see these young guys that are pitching well, Cabrera, Drake, and Brett, as the reasons why Mike Hayeson, was talking about it. and doesn't make a move at the at the trade deadline. You might be right about that. But I would argue it's not those guys. It's that those guys can make two more starts each in his mind

to get us to Corbyn Burns's return. I don't know if he's right about that. I don't know if Corbyn Burns is going to be back that soon, but for the most part, Corbyn Burns seems very much on track to be back by mid-August. I mean, we're going to need a pitcher beyond this season as well, though, is the thing. Sorok is a free agent. E. Rod and Merrill both have only two years left.

You're very, very right about that. To get a controllable pitcher. Like, if we could get a guy that had two or three years on his deal, I do think that that's valuable enough for this team to look beyond the, you know, the short term of being like, well, Corbin, it's not only needed until Corbin Burns is back. Because I do think that you could bring in a guy that is almost a stable. of your rotation for a few years here potentially. I mean, the debacks don't have that many needs.

We talk about how glaring the needs are, but I don't think that it's like, well, we need this and this and this and this. I think that you all... You need a first baseman and you need a starting pitcher. Yeah. That's pretty much their main priorities. For the most part, yeah. I mean, those are the big weaknesses.

And I don't think that that's too much to ask Mike Hazen to go out there and accomplish at the deadline. He's a GM for a professional baseball team. If that's too tall of a task, then I, I think that, you know, maybe it's not the job for him. That being said, I, you know, I'm not accusing him of that. I think that Mike Hazen will get that done. I just am saying that like that doesn't seem like an expectation level that is beyond

what is reasonable from a Diamondbacks fan perspective that he needs to go out there and he needs to get us a first baseman. He needs to get us a starting pitcher because, you know, this team has some good players on it, has a chance to make postseason. but also we've talked about how it feels like, you know, it's now or never for this iteration of the organization with Tori Lovolo at the wheel and potentially even Mike Hazen making decisions, although it feels like he's more set in stone here long term. It just it just seems like they need to kind of put the pressure on and win now. Like it's been long enough that they've headed the organization and you need to start putting, you know, some playoff teams together again. I agree. And I mean, there's just, there's, there's enough talent here to do it. And I think that, you know, these young guys have really stepped up. That's, that's the nice part. But that's, that's kind of something that happens in baseball. There's not a lot of information available on a pitcher making his major league debut. They don't know what his tendencies are going to be at a major league level. They just don't know much about him. But the more information that gets out there, the more likely it is that there, the more likely it is that there,

not going to continue to be able to go out and have a five-inning one-run outing, right? And that's the reason why you need major league pitching if you want to make an actual push for the playoffs and make an actual push once you reach the playoffs for a World Series title, which is, you know, obviously the goal here. This team is a weird rag-tag group of, like, young, exciting talent and veterans, right? And again, like, that's, this is just a very weird team. You got guys like Nolan Aronado, Max Kepler, Paul Seawald that have been, you know, delivering for you this year. And obviously, you know, we know that the guys that we expected to have not been as good as we want them to be.

Cotell Marte, Corby and Carolo Pardomo, all those guys have struggled. Meanwhile, Gabby Moreno remains the most consistent hitter on this team right now. and you're at least getting enough production from your lineup overall to win you some baseball games. Really what they need, though, is a power bat, something that they have not had all season long. I mean, as good as Tim Tawa has been since Pavin Smith went away and was banished to the shadow realm, and Tim Tawa had to step up and really did so in that Dodgers series in particular. But overall has been pretty good, I would say. I think Tim Tawa has earned himself a role.

as one of the utility guys on this team, probably taking Jorge Barrosa's spot when a first baseman does get brought in to the mix, in my opinion. That being said, I still think that, you know, you see in a at bat like the one where Tim Tawa struck out looking, you know, late in the game in a really, really big spot, you know, you just can't really have that out of your first basement. You need a guy who's going to strike a little bit more fear,

into the opponent. Because when Tim Tawahua gets up there, a team thinks to themselves, okay, this is our opportunity to get a quick out here in a big spot. Whereas, you know,

if you have, you know, even a Christian Walker walk up to the plate with people and runners in scoring position, I do think that like the, you know, knees get a little shaky,

you know, there's vomit on your sweater already, Derek. That's Eminem. That's Eminem. That's Eminem. You got that reference. I think that's nice yeah but yeah I mean I just think that you need you need to bring in a first

baseman you need to bring in a pitcher in my opinion base off of this I did want to don't be surprised if they don't do the pitching thing again because one pitcher that's too much to ask I'm not saying it's too much to ask Ernesto makes the best point and unless you have the 90s rotation you should be probably adding a starting picture every deadline if you're a serious organization I'm with you especially if what you're talking about is having someone under control beyond 2026, right? Redetmer's isn't that because he's just on a one-year deal. And a lot of the names-

I thought. No, just a one-year deal. Are you sure? I'm not 100% sure about that. He signed a one-year deal with the Angels and it's a very, not a very expensive contract either. But there are other guys that are out there that are, you know, that could become available, right? Ernesto says the problem is not enough teams are selling yet anyway. We've seen that teams that are like five games below 500 in the end.

American League somehow have a wild card spot. Meanwhile, in the National League, you just have a bunch of teams all clumped together. And it's all these teams that are like the Diamondbacks. It's all these teams that are, you know, still trying to figure out what their identity is. They have strengths. Like the nationals have some great offensive, you know, firepower there, but their pitching has not been very good, right? You have, you know, the Marlins who were outstanding.

And now they've lost. eight games in a row to drop right out of the wildcard hunt. And that's the kind of significant drop that I'm talking about, where one minute you were in the hunt and next minute you're a seller and you're trading Sandy Alcantra to us, which I don't hate that idea. But see you, Marlins. See you Marlins.

No love loss for those teams in Florida. Especially no love loss for those goddamn St. Louis Cardinals that are making us lose a off day on Thursday. Losers. And fly to St. Louis. But Derek, not to do this to you here, but Reid Detmer's one year $2.6 million deal, which was his avoiding arbitration deal that he signed. He has two years of arbitration control after this season. Does he?

He does. I didn't see that. Looking at it right now on Spotrack, he's got 2027 and 2028 as arbitration years before he's a free agent in 2029. So Reed Detmer's is back on. He's probably not. but you can, you, you can, you can, you can, you can hope for that. I still think that. He's not an unattainable pitcher.

Like, this is not a superstar. We could, why can't we get this guy? Because of the amount that you're going to have to get up, to give up in order to get him. And because of other team. If we can't, if we can't, if we can't go out there and get a guy with a 4.16 ERA, then where, the game's truly gone. Eric. The game is, the game is truly gone. Yeah.

At that point. Well, and the thing about it is the angel's not about the angels not being sellers. It's about everyone being buyers. It's about everyone else being buyers. Yeah. No, you'd probably have to pony up a little bit more than what he's worth most likely because of that. And let me tell you, all the teams that are sellers, they're going to get a haul. Like every single team.

If they just, if they literally just play the game and negotiate with, you know, all the other teams that are going to be calling them, they're going to do just fine. They're going to do just fine. I did have one last quick Paul Seawald statistic for us, Eric, before we moved on from this segment here, because I went through the trouble of doing the statistics on it. His ERA through the month of May, so that is the few games in March, April into the end of May. Paul Seawald had a 3.84 ERA with nine earn runs in 21 and a third innings pitched.

From June through the midpoint here of July, Paul Seawald has 11 earned runs in 15 innings pitched, which is good for a 6.60 ERA. So he had a 3.84 ERA in the first two months and about a 6.6 ERA in the last two here. I mean, he doesn't not give up a home run. He doesn't not give up. He just goes up there and just gives up bombs.

I mean, he gives up runs. And he just finds a way to get enough of an outing to get the win. You know what I mean? Just enough. Even tonight, like I said, he looked good for the first two outs. Yeah. It just didn't. I felt confident until one runner went on base and I went, oh my God.

And it's a triple on top of that. And you know that, you just know that run's going to score. You're automatically being like, okay, it's going to be a four three ball game. But, of course, it's Jacob Wilson. So you have to multiply that by 10 because of the power being in Arizona. But yes, Paul C. Wald's been bad. And I just don't know if that's the guy that they can continue. to put out there.

The one good thing about Seawald is he doesn't try to be perfect and he doesn't care what his ERA is. Everybody else in the bullpen is going to at times try to be too perfect. Paul's just going to try to go out there and get three outs and ensure that his team has more runs than the other team when all of a sudden done. He doesn't care if he gives up two runs as long as they had a three run lead before that, right? I just worry that Paul goes up there and just goes like, I'm going to make him beat me. I'm going to throw it in the zone and then got. guys, as they should, because there's so much film on Paul Seawald at this point, they go up there and they say, I'm going to swing for the fences at everything that he throws

me high in the zone, the entire at bat. And if I strike out, I strike out. But if I actually connect on something, it's probably going to go over the fence. And that's the problem with having like a high fastball throwing, 92 mile per hour fly ball pitcher as your closer. But it's the life we live. I think the big problem with the home run to Jacob Wilson, for instance, was he threw three pitches right in the same area. He threw a 91 mile an hour fastball, a 90.6 mile an hour fastball, and a 91 mile an hour fastball all in the top, like, away quadrant. Like, you just can't do, you can't do that to any batter in Major League Baseball, let alone a guy that.

like Jacob Wilson or Shay Langleyer. It's that age old closer conversation Derek where it's like most of the time with a closer because they have such a light pitch mix, you know what they're going to throw at you. These guys are so studied up on the notes on each pitcher are so in depth

that you can pretty much predict what these closers are going to throw at you. The difference between Paul Seawald and some of these closers in baseball is that a lot of these guys throw 101 miles per hour with hammer sliders. And like, you know, You're literally like, I dare you to hit this.

Yeah, whereas like Paul Seawald is like, you know what I'm throwing and it's 91 and it's right in the heart of the plate. And you go, what? That's what we know you're throwing? It sounds like batting practice. And sometimes it works out and it largely has this season and other times it does not. It does not. And it looks like tonight. Yeah.

Well, we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're going to take a look at the numbers from tonight's game and we're going to hear from Tori. and of course, Col Drake as well, and Max Kepler in the clubhouse. So don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX Diamond Beck Show. Well, of course, Bet365 always wants to make games like this more fun, and they can do so with their live in-game betting, where, you know, when you start feeling things going one way or another,

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on the gaming floor. But first, we're going to talk baseball. So make sure to join us for a live edition of this very program on Thursday, July 30th, out there. It's free to RSVP. And all diehards who attend, you guys will all receive a free drink ticket for the event. So good times. We're going to have some drinks. We're going to talk baseball.

We're going to have a fun evening. All diehards of Ken attend, get that free drink ticket. And the show starts at 6 p.m. So make sure to RSVP if you can. Let us know you're coming. and that link will be in our show notes. But Damon, I think it's time for us to take a look at the numbers from tonight's game. And these are strange, once again.

Diamondbacks offensively still aren't firing on all cylinders. We know that. And this is another game, you know, where after that hot start, their bats went cold for five straight innings here. The Diamondbacks do win this one by a score of six to five, but they do get out hit when it comes to extra base hits by a count of four to two. Both teams did have nine hits on the night. The athletics were two for six with runners in scoring position.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, were three for 11 thanks to those late extra innings, heroics there, and those two runs coming across. Thanks to Nolan Aronado and Ildemar Vargas. Hard hit percentage. The Diamondbacks were 30% of their balls hit were hard hit. 37.9% of the athletics, balls hit were hard hit. Expected batting average for both teams, 248 for the Diamondbacks,

280 for the athletics. And ABS challenges, the Diamondbacks were not good tonight. They went 0 for 2. They also, again, Gabby seemed to have a pretty poor challenge in there as well. Right when you think Gabby's starting to nail it, he suddenly has a night like this. So overall, numbers don't. suggest that the Diamondbacks should have won this game in regulation or not in extra innings,

but my eyeballs say otherwise. This game was over after the first inning, and we should have been done. But instead, Paul Seawald, unfortunately, made this one a bit more difficult. Let's take a look at the wild card standings, though, because with this win, I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised and happy to see that the Diamondbacks have, in fact, currently, at least I know they're kind of on the outside looking in, based on the head-to-head matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Diamondbacks are currently in a wildcard spot. That's what I'm going to say.

They are tied with the pirates for the final National League wildcard spot, and it's probably going to be a dog fight. I mean, the Cubs have been playing some really good baseball. The Phillies have been incredible since Don Mattingly took that team over. And, you know, again, you just, you can't feel like there's going to be multiple spots for you to fight over. So it really does feel like we're going to kind of be in this dogfight with

the pirates and the Cardinals and the Marlins and the Nationals and probably the Padres for the rest of this season. After that, they start to fall back some. What a disgrace the Mets are. I mean, what a disgrace the Mets are. And it's tough that Yoshi's not in here tonight

because I want to say it to his face. Yeah, you want to really, really give it to Yoshi. I mean, 16 games on. 500 with, you know, the second most expensive team in the sport. It's crazy. You should be ashamed of yourself. New York metropolitan fans. We felt the shame when we paid all that money for, like, Jordan Montgomery and

Jordan Montgomery didn't work out. And that was just like one guy that put us over the top. That wasn't like going out and adding all of these players and all of this salary, spending recklessly and putting together a team that you thought that, you know, was somehow a juggernaut. Also, you have the Padres who are about to trade away Mason Miller at the trade deadline. And even though I know the debacks are not going to get him. And even though I very much want them to trade him to like the Toronto Blue Jays to get him as far physically away from us as possible and as far away from our division as possible, that's going to be hilarious when that happens.

considering the amount of prospects and players that the Padres have given up simply for Juan Soto and Mason Miller. And neither of those guys really did much to help them win a championship because they still haven't won one of those. Ever. Ever. I mean, they're going to, they're going to be looking back. A bunch of wringless bums. Yeah, that's a fact. They're going to be looking back on trading away Leo DeVries thinking to themselves.

Yes. Well, we don't care because, you know, we're getting Mason Miller number one. We have Zander Bogartz at short number two, and we have Fernando Tatis who can play short number three. Now Tatis doesn't play infield. Now Zander Bogartz is one of the worst contracts in baseball. And now Mason Miller probably won't play on your team anymore. We've talked about players that have heard us. We always talk about players that the Diamondbacks traded away.

That'll stick with you for a decade, 20 years. I mean. The idea of trading away, CJ Abrams. James Williams and James Wood, both in the All-Star game this year, had to be devastating. Yeah. To fans. Well, and one Soto. Oh, and one Soto.

And one Soto. I mean, it's, yeah, it's a travesty. As Top G says, though, they will never say die. They will be 50 and 51, whatever the equivalent of a 495 win percentages, the entire season long. So expect the Padres to be in that mix. I would love to see. the Marlins just continue to free fall out of this thing. Yes. Yes.

Just like lose so bad that your season's done. Like the way that the A's season has capitulated in the last couple of weeks. And then start trading away your players at the trade deadline. Absolutely. Give us Otto Lopez. Cardinals, same way. Lost four in a row. Like you guys have overachieved.

It's so fun. Everybody thought you were going to be bad, but you're like at 500. So you should be proud of yourself. Yeah. Haven't we had a good time? Like what a win this season is then? Remember when people were giving you the business about. all that dead money that you paid for Sunny Gray,

Nolan Arnado. All good. Time to free fall out of the, out of the freaking standings. And if you're the pirates as well, like enough overachieving, enough of the ridiculous pitching staff. Someone puts in here,

CJ put it in here. That's our spot. Yeah, the pirates play a double header tomorrow against the Yankees with their two worst pitchers on the mound. Doesn't get any better than that. Two losses, bang. They're going to fall right out and we'll have sole control over that spot. I don't know how realistic it is.

that we're going to be able to catch up with these other two teams at the top of this wildcard race. I mean, they seem pretty set in stone. Here's why. Here's the only reason why, because the Cubs have been so goddamn weird this year. They could lose 12 in a row. Yeah,

there's another 12 game losing streak coming for that team. 100%. So let's not pretend like it's not. Okay. That's fair. If the Cubs lose a double digit amount of games in a row, then sure. But it just feels like the way the Phillies are playing, the way the Cubs have been able to claw out of their hole that they put themselves in

and now have a 13 above 500 record going right now. I just think that those two teams seem pretty locked for two of those three wildcard spots. The best we could probably hope for is sneaking into that last one. Well, let's hear from the clubhouse. Damon, what do we got? We got Tori Lavolo on the win tonight. Let's hear from the skipper.

Let's get it. It started with Cole Drake. He goes out there and gives us five. really, really good innings. He had a great mix. I talked to you about that pitch mix and the things that he was going to be capable of doing. He relaxed enough and with his family in the stands, I can hear him with every pitch. You know, he blocked all that stuff out and went out there and executed. So, you know, unfortunately, he didn't win the baseball game, but the team won the game and that's what he was supposed to do, keep us in a ballgame. You know, everybody had a hand in

this game. Everybody had a piece of what made this game so special. You know, Kepler on base. I don't even know how many times. We finally started to lock in with a nice approach with men in scoring position, less than two outs, the third base and less than two outs. So that's what we're capable of doing. Even when we have a bad moment, we overcome it and win a baseball game. And it was a total team effort. And Kevin Ginkle gassed out, goes out there and gives an inning. Jonathan Loisig, is getting ready to throw the next inning who's gassed out. Those are the sacrifices. This team makes for one another. That's what special, and that's what sticks out about it more than anything for me today.

man you love to you love to hear him giving ginkle that that credit because ginkle has been used a lot and he's been very good but there comes a tipping point with relievers and tory's come to that he's had that happen to him before because he just has guys that he trusts entirely too much and then those become his workhorses they become who he goes to every single time but gabby moreno has become a workhorse for this team man. And again, he's been incredibly consistent, the most consistent hitter in the lineup. Here's what Tori had to say about Gabby's night and his season. A relentless approach and not coming off of it. Just staying on pitches, letting the ball get

deeper, he's supposed to, playing the game of Cat and Mouse. You know, hitting is a game of understanding what the pitcher's going to do to you and being one step ahead of him. So he's got a built-in approach, hard middle, hard opo that's keeping him on pitches. And then picks his times, picks his time to pull the baseball. He's doing it in a lot of ways. He's very dynamic. He can slug you and he can patiently wait it out and draw a walk. And that's a very rare combination for somebody that has those types of skills we're

really going to lean on. Yeah. And it's been incredible. Moreno's really just had a very consistent season. And it's his patience. His patience has been there. But the walk-off... I think that, yeah, I was good to say that.

I just think that like Gabby, Gabby's 391 on base percentage this year. I mean, what, how remarkable is that? Because I, you know, even in his 2023 season where he had a 284 average, he had a 339 on base percentage. Yeah. Very good. Yeah. Uh, and not.

Wasn't walking like this. Yeah. And still walking some, right? Like that's about 50 points higher. It's not, it's not like it's despicable. But right now you're looking at his, at his average in OBP differential. it's about 90 points different right now, which is almost double what he did that season,

which was a great offensive season for him. I mean, he's just really seeing the ball well right now, and it shows, it really shows. CJ asks in the chat, are the debacks capable of a Red Sox type 10 plus game win streak, or is that starting pitching just too inconsistent math for that? Yeah? Probably.

I would say that. And I would think that their bats are also inconsistent as coach, as Coach Henry says here, it's the hitting that is too inconsistent. Their offense has been more of a problem than their pitching. I mean, there's been even times where we've said that it was the pitching, you know,

on the blame game. It's the pitching's fault. And all the pitching did was give up like four runs, right? I mean, this offense has been one of the best offenses in baseball the last few seasons. The unfortunate part is right when we are starting to get some consistency not only out of our broken starting rotation, but out of our bullpen, our offense now is becoming the problem, right? So I don't believe that they're capable at this time of a 10-plus

game winning streak. I think that they're capable of winning a bunch of series in a row, you know, like winning, like right now, they do have the best record in the National League, like I said earlier, going back to July 9th, they are 7 and 2 over that stretch. So it's like they do have the capability to put together some nice stretches and win some ball games, especially against teams that you don't expect them to have as nice of a showing as they've had against the Cardinals and the Dodgers, for instance. But I'm still a little skeptical that they could put that many together in a row. We have more here from Torrey.

Here's Tori discussing Ildemarovarov's walk-off and why he was the perfect guy in that situation to make that hit. He gets on top of high fastball as good as anybody I've seen. You know, he's timing to the fastball. He understands what he's got to do. And given out bad, I felt like there was going to be some contact made. And at the end of it, you know, he was a right guy in the right spot. He's had some really big moments for this team.

But it's hard to do. It's hard to get on top of 98 that high in the zone. But he did. I've seen him do it in his whole career. Did I just taking the pitch where it was? Or did he, I mean, shortstop was playing somewhat of his shift. And the third base one was still close. Yeah, I know what it looks like

is you guys are watching it. There's no way he tried to place the ball there. There's no way he made that happen. It's impossible to do. Some of the best hitters in baseball are capable of doing that with pitches down in the zone. That was just a fastball who's trying to get over and get on top of and put it in play and we hit the right spot.

Vargas's teammate Max Kepler also had some very nice things to say about Vargas getting that walkoff hit. Here's what Kepler had to say. Yeah, it was that. his head. That was pretty crazy. But if I were you, it would be the guy in this team to do that. I've seen him do that before. And yeah, I kind of envisioned

something going into that big hole over by short because it was wide open. And I know what you're thinking, and yes, you are right. Max Kepler definitely has Blaze Alexander energy, and I love it. It's great. Kepler also, he's just been a big part of

these wins. He's been a big part of these walk-offs, and it feels like he's just, the The impact he's having on this team is growing. Here's what Kepler had to say about the win tonight. It's great. It's great. I think we have a quick turnaround tonight, so get some good sleep, get on the road.

But yeah, just stay within our element. We're doing good things right now. And definitely, you know, acknowledge what happened today, you know, a couple days ago. You know, everything's been good and going in our favor, which is great. but just keep working, keep grinding. Obviously, that is a guy that had to grind. He had to grind not only through that unfortunate PED suspension that cost him so much time and that hit to his reputation,

but he also had to get back into the rhythm of playing Major League Baseball, and it wasn't necessarily easy. Here's what Kepler had to say about essentially his spring training time being over, and that's why these results are starting to show. Some guys were joking with me. The screen training's over now. And it kind of is at that time, I guess, two months in now about. But yeah, a lot of work to do.

And I, yeah, I feel like I'm playing catch-up sometimes. But, I mean, we're in a good place overall. And I just want to stay within myself and keep doing what we're doing. He gives me, Derek, it's such like a, it's funny to me how every single dude who's from, like, Germany, or the Netherlands or one of these places in Europe, like they're culturally, they're just all very similar people where they're just very business oriented.

And Max Kepler is like, yeah, you know, uh, you know, we come out and we play our game and we do, uh, you know what we know how to do and we will do it again tomorrow. Yeah.

And you're like, all right, there's your answer. Yeah. Very laid back. Very cool. And, uh, yeah,

definitely a guy that, uh, has, he's very German. He's been, he's been very helpful to this team lately. And like I said, even though that this suspension requires him to miss being on this team when the postseason comes around, still feels like, you know, again,

that his contributions can be huge to get them to that finish line. I think that was what Mike Hazen was thinking. And look at how right he was to bring Kepler in because we've only lost more players due to injury since then. And Kepler's now playing regularly, you know. In 2023, Max Kepler had a 24 home run 66 RBI, 816 OPS season for the twins. In 2024, you know, in a down year, he had a 682 OPS and a 91 OPS plus. So he's just a, you know, very slightly below league average hitter in that season in a down year. Last year for the Phillies, his OPS plus was 87, 691.

OPS, 18 bombs, 52 RBI. I mean, again, these are some of the worst years of Max Kepler's career. And he's putting up those type of statistics a lot better than some of the guys that were in the back half of this lineup in other portions of this season. And it feels like a big time upgrade right now with the way that he's playing. Waldie continues to struggle with strikeouts. We have Tommy Troy down due to injury. Jordan Lawler down due to injury.

Perennially. Having Kepler here is huge. and he's giving you good at bats tonight. He walked twice. He hit a home run. Like, you just can't say enough about what he's been able to do over at least the last week to help this team win two baseball games. The margins are very, very thin. So we got to win all the games we can win.

But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to hear more from Cole Drake on his debut, as well as discuss that pile of injuries that's growing that I was discussing earlier. Don't you go anywhere you're watching the PHA next time in Beck show. Well, I need to stop by Circle K on my way home. Luckily, they're open and I need snacks. I was on Justin Spears show, ESPN Tucson, and he hit me up with the, what's your top five snacks at Circle K? My mind was racing.

I didn't even know where to start. My top five snacks. Dude, Justin will hit you with like just an out of nowhere question that you're like, man, you put me on the spot. Yeah, you're really putting me on the spot. Then I was like sour gummies because those always hit at Circle K and their candy are better than everyone else's candy. Tornadoes, not hot dogs, tornadoes.

They're from the roller, but they're different and they're awesome and you should try them. You have more than that. You had what I do, I do peanut butter buckets, a little peanut butter pretzel things. Electric. I'm a big, like, just plain potato chip guy. Wow. Or even a barbecue. Like just not something too complicated.

theirs are electric. Their chips are delightful. They have great chips. Just everything about their snacks is better. It's better than other snacks and cheaper too. And if you join the Inner Circle for free right now, you'll save even more on those snacks. It's easy to download and get enrolled. Then you just use your phone number to score Circle K deals like those 79 cent polar pops, 99 cent frosters. Save yourself some gas by three Coca-Cola 20 ounce products and you'll get 25 cents off per gallon on your next fill-up. Plus they have their meal deal matrix where they'll keep you. fed all day long for cheaper. So join the Inner Circle for free right now by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. And the Window Depot is here this summer to help you cool your home. The AZ heat, we know it's here to stay. It's not going anywhere. And windows are a major reason for the costs, climbing every single month and getting higher and making those energy bills soar. So at the Window Depot, windows are what they do. They have the biggest inventory, best prices guaranteed. The Window Depot will beat any price.

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your space at no extra cost, from cabinets to countertops, they make it simple. The Window Depot, more than a window store. All right, well, and speaking of fun times, speaking of the summer, got to join me, Damon, and your fellow diehards for a takeover of Chase Field. We have one more planned before the end of the year. And of course, this DeBack's takeover is presented by Circle K, Tuesday, August 25th versus the Chicago Cubs. We will be sitting in the bar as All You Can Eat section

You will get a piece of PHNX Dback's merch As part of your ticket and that's either a hat or a shirt Your game ticket to the bar as all you can eat section And all the glizzies that your little heart can take Die hard to get 20% off So get your tickets now at go phnx.com slash events And today was all about Cole Drake It was a little unfortunate that Paul Seawald ruined

the opportunity for Cole Drake to get the win at the end of it all, but the Diamondbacks definitely still got the win. So I think Cole was happy with that. Here is what Drake had to say on making his debut tonight. I mean, pretty solid. Five innings, five Ks, one-earned run. I mean, I'll take that any day of the week anywhere. Definitely would like to, you know, give up less free bases.

but, I mean, it's something we can work on moving forward. Can you kind of take us through that third inning and finding a way out of that gym? Yeah, I mean, I just kind of probably was putting too much pressure on myself mentally. Felt a little tight mechanically, and then Cap came out, talked to me, and kind of noticed the adjust I need to make, and I was able to get out of it from there. Things weren't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it would have been nice to get the win. Here's what Drake had to say about not getting the way. tonight.

Yeah, I mean, that's just part of it. And, you know, hopefully the next out of there and get a win. And that's what the team was able to do today as well, has ended up with a win. Well, that next question was that Tori basically had told us that Drake's family was going crazy in the stands and that he was essentially able to block all of that out

and pitch. And when we asked Drake about it, he basically said he couldn't hear him. And if he did, it would have distracted him. Here's what he had to say. Tori said he could hear your family screaming in the stands. Did you hear any of that? I did not.

Thankfully, I probably would have gotten a little distracted if I could have heard my mom screaming at me, but. Takes you back to the old days when mom used to scream at you from the stands in Little League, right? But yeah, man, I mean, great for him, great for his family. It was a big night. Not only for him, but also the Diamondbacks overall first drafts.

Pick, Ryder Helfrick, was at Chase Field today, looking like a young Craig Morgan, Spry, very handsome fella, took batting practice. He got to take batting practice with Nolan Aronado. It's nuts. And I mean, he appreciated it. Just one day removed from Aronado getting his 2000th career hit. This young man gets to step into the cage alongside of him as now essentially teammates and kind of pick his brain. So that was very cool. He also said his favorite catcher growing up was James McCann.

I have a, not that I have a hard time believing that, but when you ask what your game was modeled after or who you emulated, James McCann is a little bit of a deep cut, even though he has been a very solid MLB player his entire career. I just don't know how much I believe that. I don't know how much I believe it. I want to believe it, though. I want to believe it 100%. but we got a few more from Tori here.

Tori discussed Paul Seawald and what happened to him tonight. Here's what Tori had to say about Seawald blowing this safe. That's a good question. I know some of the frustration he's having is giving up that scratch run or that home run where damage hurts him. So, you know, I love that he's got a really good two-pitch mix. I think he just threw three pitches at the same velocity in the same location to a hitter that's coming home and trying to show off for everybody that he possibly can back here in Arizona. He's a pretty good player.

So, you know, you do that to a good player. You pay the consequences. Well, last but not least, we know this season has been an absolute roller coaster. We know that there's been so many ups and downs. And it's not even the end of it yet. We're not even close to the end of it. So we have more rides to take, but hopefully they're fun rides and not what Paul Sewell did in the top of the ninth inning tonight. Here's what Tori had to say about this roller coaster of a season they've experienced.

We, I think we have a little bit of an identity. I know that at the time early in the year when we were getting beat up by some teams, we were still trying to figure out who we were. You know, I think we're a tough team that wants to play 27 outs and just be gritty. And part of our identity is pitching in defense, especially out of the bullpen. So I don't really want to compare us to anybody.

I think we match up against anybody at any time. And I love these boys. We love them too. We love them too. And we would love if they stopped getting injured because that is really what has been adding to the roller coaster ride that is, this season. In fact, we had another injury today, and it was kind of a last-minute swap

right before the start of the game. We got noticed that the Diamondbacks made a roster move, and Dre Jameson was placed on the 15-day IL retroactive to July 20th with right hip inflammation. So that wasn't great. He did throw 42 pitches in two innings against the Cardinals on July 19th and hasn't appeared in a game since. That would be the reason. And again, they made a move right before the game. So that is another picture that the Diamondbacks have lost. They do have Justin Martinez, who is expected to return here at some point in August.

Like I said, he has thrown 15 bullpens, and he threw a live batting practice session on July 18th. So that's very encouraging. Another very encouraging update is on Ryan Nelson, who had an MRI taken on July 17th that showed just enough healing has been completed that he can begin a throwing program and he has begun a throwing program. It is looking like he will be returning to this team by midpoint of September. and now I still don't know if that's going to be in the capacity of a starting pitcher or a reliever. As far as this team is concerned, I think that they could definitely use Ryan Nelson in any way they can get him. And if he does return in a reliever capacity that he is expected to come back sooner than if he was to try to get fully stretched out as a starter.

You also have Lordus Gurriel Jr., who's on the injured list with a strained right adductor, We have AJ Puck, who's left shoulder capsule sprain pretty much sounds like it has ruled him out for this season. And he is still waiting a second opinion on that. Jordan Lawler, we did get some encouraging updates in regards to his MRI. It showed that he has progress in healing as well and can start doing light running and live hitting. Michael Soroka, as we talked about earlier, still dealing with that left glute strain. he's scheduled to throw a bullpen session a few days ago on July 18th. Everything that we heard so far, it sounded like everything came out good,

and he will be continuing to throw bullpens. Zach Gowan got his second opinion, but we don't know what that second opinion is. It very much feels like Zach Gowlin might also be done for the season. Plus, you also have Tommy Troy, sprained right AC joint. Corbyn Burns. He has started his throwing program. He began that on July 10th. Everything came out of that feeling good.

His MRI came back clean. He's scheduled to throw every other day on flat ground and then we'll progress to throwing off a mound after that. Then it'll be bullpns, live BP's get into simulated games. So still a while away. But very encouraging considering it's July 26. second and we're hearing this news about Corbyn Burns and it very much feels like he could ramp up quickly and be ready by late August, early September is what they're expecting for his return.

But I mean, again, just listen to all these, you know, injuries that I just covered. It's just incredible. Drey Jameson, you know, Lordus Guriel Jr., this guy, that guy, like the Diamondbacks have, what is it? especially if Corbyn actually had missed more time than just one game. They would have had four outfielders down. It's insane. It's insane what this team has been trying to go through.

And yet somehow we sit here on July 22nd, just 10, 11-ish days away from the trade deadline. The Diamondbacks are three games above 500, and everything is trending in a very positive direction for this team. to be buyers and to give Damon all of the players that he wants this team to add at the deadline. But they still have to get there first. And I believe someone said it. It would be great for them to just rattle off a win streak right now that solidified this team as not only a contender and a playoff team, but a team that you want to add to when that deadline comes around. That's all I got for you guys.

We thank you guys so much for sticking around with us and for being here after this extra innings affair, if you want to call it that, an extra innings game that should have never gone to extra innings. We'll be back tomorrow with another postgame show after the 1240 start. We have a 12 p.m. show on Thursday and then another postgame show on Friday. Hope you're able to join us for all of that. Shout out to our guy Frozen Waffle who said this was a new, new Diamondbacks fan, I believe what he said earlier.

So we are thrilled to have you. I said, PHNX Native and new fan going to my first. Steveax game since seventh grade in 2015, thanks to Nolan's 2000 hit and those $10 Rockies tickets. But God damn, today was tough to watch. We should have kicked the A's ass. We should have. You're absolutely right about that.

And again, even though it's not an ass kicking, they can really make us all feel good by winning the series tomorrow in the finale. So hope you have a great time at the game. And we are thrilled to have you back in our community as one of us. So we'll see you all here tomorrow. It's all required viewing, so you all got to come back. Until then, you can follow me and Damon on social. I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K.

Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end, but we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys for stopping by. We love you.

We appreciate you sharing some of your time with us. Share some more with us tomorrow. until then, I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your night. Let's get back here and win a game tomorrow. Let's do that. Let's do that. Damon, you ready? You locked in?

Yeah, I mean, we got to win this series. It means everything. It means everything. It means more than anything else. But appreciate you guys for stopping by. See you tomorrow. Until then, love you, and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when your closer doesn't put you on a roller coaster ride in the ninth inning.