Back at Chase Field (in less than 24 hours)

During our second day in Arizona, the group headed back to Chase Field in downtown Phoenix to watch an afternoon game of the Diamondbacks vs. the Reds. While it was a warm 100 degrees outside, the dome took the temperature down to a comfortable 75 degrees.

Our seats for this game were on the first base line just beyond the dire infield, on the concourse (level one). What was different about Chase Field than other ballparks we had been to, our seats were actually angled towards home plate. Instead of looking out at the field, you were already positioned towards the main "action" aka the batter. These were probably the best seats for the group for this particular game because earlier in the day we had agreed to all keep score. Our class requirement is that someone scores for each game in the official class scorebook and then people like myself also keep score. We wanted to know what would happen if we all kept a record, comparing them at a later point.

Our seats

While the Diamondbacks don't have the best record, we were hoping for some more offense from the home team after their lost the previous day. The Diamondbacks started off strong, their pitcher Wade Miley, striking out nine during the six innings he pitched. As the Diamondback's recap says on their MLB website, Miley threw four bad pitches, which they cite turned the momentum of the ballgame (but more on that later). 

In the second, the Diamondbacks executed a beautiful caught stealing play. Runners on first (Brayan Pena) and third (Devin Mesoraco). Pena started for second as the Diamondback's catcher (Miguel Montero) threw to second base. After a few tosses between the first and second baseman, Mesoraco decided it was his time to steal home. However, the Diamondback's first baseman noticed Mesoraco, throwing the ball to Montero in hopes of tagging Mesoraco out. Another pickle situation ensued until Montero finally tagged out Mesoraco. The Jumbotron told us the official scoring was CS (caught stealing) 2-6-4-3-2. If you're interested in seeing the play, click here to be taken to the MLB website with the thirty second video clip (it is really worth the watch).  

However, even that great play in the second wasn't enough to deter the Reds. In the third inning, Miley threw two pitches (one to Zack Cozart and another to Todd Frazier) that both resulted in solo home runs. The Reds were then able to tack on two more runs (one in the third and another in the fourth), once again off solo home runs (from Ryan Ludwick [3rd] and Chris Heisey [4th]). 

Now down four to nothing, the Diamondbacks had to really put their batting into high gear. The bottom of the fourth became the D-backs best chance at scoring. After an initial strikeout, Reds' pitcher Alfredo Simon walked Paul Goldschmidt and then gave up a double (Montero) which brought in Goldschmidt and then a single (Prado) which put runners on first and third. Chavez's sacrifice fly then brought in Montero and Peralta's single moved Prado around the bases and finally, Inciarte's single brought in Prado. The score was now 4-3 and it looked good for the Diamondbacks. In the fourth inning, they had four hits, three runs, and went through eight batters. 

Unfortunately, this offensive run was not enough to put the D-backs ahead. By the bottom of the ninth, the D-backs were relying on the bottom of the order batters to get a rally going and these batters were up against the infamous closer, Aroldis Chapman. We had seen Chapman before when the Reds played the Dodgers and his 100 mph fastball is incredible. And after those four home runs, the Reds couldn't put together any more runs, leaving up to three men on base in the ninth. 

The game lasted 2 hours and 59 minutes and the group sure had a good game to score. Lots of action, although not all concentrated in simply one inning. Our seats were ideal in the fact that we had a good view of the field and the jumbotron, which gave us the official scoring after each play.