The Diamondbacks are real hot at 11-4 after Sunday’s finale loss against the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. With this kind of start, most of the players end up being pretty hot, so let’s check out how the D-Backs fared in the second week of play.

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Paul Goldschmidt

Welcome back Goldy! After a pretty bad start to the year, he broke out of his slump in San Francisco after hitting .100 through the first three series. Monday he hit a triple in the first inning to the triple’s alley in right centerfield off of Derek Holland. Tuesday night he then went 2-4 with a homer to tie the game in the 9th inning. The game was blown in the bottom of the 9th, but you could feel that Goldy really had found his groove after the big hit.

He homered again the next day in the fourth inning, and on Saturday night he homered off of Rich Hill to take a 3-1 lead in the 3rd inning. With only two walks this week, Goldy has been able to do it with the bat with four homers including a Sunday day shot off of Clayton Kershaw.

Patrick Corbin

Corbin is three starts into the season, and he is pitching how the Opening Day starter should. In 18 innings, he has 29 strikeouts which is fourth in the bigs behind Max Scherzer and Cole Hamels who have four starts.

Corbin’s slider has looked untouchable, and his control has been vastly improved with just four walks so far. Corbin last pitched Wednesday against the Giants, and he looked as good as ever through five innings. He then gave up three hits in a row followed by a tough, veteran at-bat from Andrew McCutchen that resulted in a based loaded walk. He got pulled after a sac fly and then a walk. He ended the night with 9 strikeouts through 5.1 innings with three earned runs.

The atmosphere was electric at AT&T Park, and that almost playoff-like experience will be useful for Corbin down the road. Corbin will have his second shot at them this Tuesday at Chase Field this time.

John Ryan Murphy

In very limited playing time, Murphy has really taken advantage of his opportunities. With Alex Avila struggling, Murphy was 2-3 with a bomb Wednesday against the Giants. That was his second homer of the year, and he is hitting .286/.333/.786 in just 14 AB’s.

Expect Murphy to keep getting a start or two a week and maybe more if Avila doesn’t pick it up soon.

Brad Boxberger

With many wanting and thinking Archie Bradley would be the Opening Day closer, fans weren’t the most ecstatic with the news a few days prior to Opening Day.

Boxberger has silenced any doubt with 5 saves in 7 appearances. He has given up only three hits in those 7 innings with ten strikeouts and four walks. Boxberger’s fastball is far from overpowering at just 91.5 mph, but it has been effective in the past.

In 2017, batters hit just .181 off his fastball. His ability to locate it along with his slow changeup is more important than velocity.

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Alex Avila

Avila has been the least impressive D-Backs hitter so far with just two hits in 22 at-bats. It is way too early to judge the contract given to him in just ten games played, but he has struck out 10 times too. We can wait another month or two to start freaking out over this. With great production for Murphy, there isn’t much to worry about. Expect Avila to heat up as he starts to get more at-bats further into the season.

Chris Owings

CO was hitting .400 through the first game of the Giants series, but he has been 2-16 since then. It has been a rough stretch of games with seven strikeouts in four games.

Owings is providing good defense in the outfield which is great for a natural middle infielder, but he has to learn to get the ball in play more often and try to utilize his speed. Striking out has been a big issue for Owings in his career, so let’s hope for an adjustment after this week for the rest of the season.

Jorge De La Rosa

With a 2.70 ERA, De La Rosa’s numbers don’t look too shabby. Unfortunately, this is combined with 6 walks in 3.1 innings along with an appearance that led to walk-off in the 9th that would have been more than one run if the Giants needed more.

De La Rosa got the loss on Tuesday after 6 days since his last appearance, but that isn’t a good enough excuse for 3 walks through one out in an inning. He has been around too long to not know or be able to just throw strikes in that situation. Unluckily, his other five outings were much better. With McFarland and Chafin already in the bullpen, De La Rosa is going to have to be better than his effort on Tuesday night.

Updated

De La Rosa was able to bounce back in the last inning of a six-run game today as he struck out Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger. Joc Pederson popped up to short in between the two strikeouts.

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