Highlight Moments for Diamondbacks in All Star Game
The Arizona Diamondbacks sent four players to the All Star Game in Seattle and each of them had a highlight moment, doing their team and their city proud. The National League won the game 3-2 on a late two-run homer by Elias Diaz of the Rockies. But the D-backs players all had moments that shined.
Zac Gallen was the starting pitcher for the National League and pitched a scoreless first inning, facing the minimum. The key moment was the second at bat against Shohei Ohtani. Gallen kept the ball down and mixed his four-seam, curveball and change up. Ohtani still managed to work the count full, but Gallen, refusing to give in and get "posterized", threw Ohtani a sharp curveball that broke down and in and the best player on the planet swung over the top for strike three.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was caught on camera in the dugout playing an impromptu game of rock paper scissors with former teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. from across in the home dugout. It highlighted Gurriel's playful personality. He later came up in the top of the 7th and faced Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano. On the second pitch of the at bat he pulled an up and in slider high down the line for what looked like a game tying home run. Unfortunately it was ruled just foul on replay review.
After a long delay due to Romano being removed from the game with back tightness, Gurriel hit a tapper in front of the plate, and showing the type of hustle we've seen from him all year, he beat out the throw for an infield hit.
The next batter was Geraldo Perdomo, and he did a very typical thing for the young shortstop. He fouled off two pitches to go down in the count 0-2, but then proceeded to exercise his well known plate discipline to draw four straight balls, taking the walk and moving Gurriel up to second. Quietly contributing is a Perdomo trademark.
Last but not least, Corbin Carroll was featured on the broadcast and was mic'd up in the outfield and for an at bat. In his at bat he hit a ground ball towards the hole between first and second that had a .420 expected batting average per Baseball Savant, but Yandy Diaz made a nice play to his right to rob a base hit.
The bigger highlight however was Carroll's live interview while playing the outfield. He went out of his way to praise his outfield coach Dave McKay and also his teammates that were not selected to the All Star game. Merrill Kelly, Ketel Marte, and Christian Walker all had a case to be in the mid summer classic, and Carroll wanted to make sure they received some recognition. That he would take this opportunity to try to put some of the spotlight on his teammates is not surprising at all to those that have gotten to see and hear him throughout this spectacular rookie season he is having.
Here is a link to a video reel that contains these highlights, (except for Perdomo's walk). Enjoy
