Diamondbacks Beat Braves in Battle of First Place Clubs

Going into the season, most of the prognosticators had the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres battling it out for the National League West crown. After two months of the 2023 season, the underachieving Padres are in fourth place. The Dodgers are tied for the lead in the division with one of the surprise clubs so far in the first third of the season, namely, the Arizona Diamondbacks. On June 2nd, the Diamondbacks hosted the Atlanta Braves, leaders of the National League East, in the first matchup of a three game series.

Arizona starting pitcher Merrill Kelly allowed two runs in seven innings pitched while striking out eight and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove in a pair of runs to lead the Diamondbacks to a 3-2 win over the Braves. Gurriel leads the club with a .310 batting average and is second on the club with 35 RBIs. First baseman Christian Walker is the club leader with 36 RBIs, aided by 12 home runs.

The Diamondbacks have a pretty good balance of offense and pitching. Arizona has an excellent pair of starters in Kelly (7-3, 2.80 ERA, 77 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings) and Zac Gallen (7-2, 2.72, 82 strikeouts in 72 2/3 innings). Gallen was 12-4 with a 2.54 and 192 strikeouts last year, while Kelly was 13-8 with a 3.37 and 177 strikeouts. The question is whether the Diamondbacks have enough depth to keep up with the Dodgers over the course of a long season. But the club is definitely headed in the right direction after being tied for the worst record in baseball in 2021 (52-110) and having a 74-88 record last year.