'Show 'n go' style fuels D-backs' makeup win vs. Nats
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WASHINGTON -- The term “show 'n go” is a longtime baseball colloquialism used to describe a day when a team, typically in the heels of a long, difficult stretch and in need of some extra rest, arrives later than usual to the ballpark, truncates its pregame slate of meetings and drills, and just plays. The D-backs show 'n go-ed Thursday afternoon at Nationals Park, in more ways than one.
On the back end of a stretch of 17 straight games and in the middle of a two-city road trip through Milwaukee and San Francisco, the D-backs re-routed for a one-day pitstop in the nation’s capital, pushed back their report time and promptly ran away with a 5-3 victory over the Nationals. Ketel Marte clocked a game-breaking three-run homer and Tommy Henry twirled 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball as Arizona extended its lead atop the National League West in the makeup of June 8’s air quality postponement.
Show. Go. Win.
“This was an uncommon day to day, this was something that was so out of the norm for us, but we're adaptable and made some great adjustments,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I was proud of our guys, we could have just cashed it in and said, 'You know, onward,' but our guys are engaged. They care about the right things at the right time.”
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As it was, the D-backs took a series from the Brewers on Sunday and flew from Wisconsin to the East Coast, spent about 18 hours in D.C. and then boarded a flight for San Francisco, where they will finish this arduous stretch with a three-game series against the division-rival Giants. They will do so up more games in the NL West (3 1/2) than they were when they left D.C. two weeks prior (1 1/2), knowing they’d need to return for this logistically inconvenient makeup.
They didn’t stay in D.C. long enough to visit the sights.
They showed, they won, they went.
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“If we're gonna come here and go out of the way to make up this game, we might as well win, right?” Henry said. “I think everyone adopted into that and came out with energy today, good, positive energy in the dugout, despite the circumstances, the rain, the weather, it being a day game, stuff like that. All are excuses, all are reasons for people to sleepwalk through games. The energy in the dugout today wasn't that, and I think that contributed.”
Show ‘n go is sort of the way Corbin Carroll plays, too. Not in terms of preparation -- in terms of always being on the move. Carroll beat out the back end of a double play ball in his first at-bat (running at an elite 30.1 ft/sec sprint speed), then went first-to-home in 10.1 seconds for Arizona’s first run when Derek Hill bobbled Christian Walker’s single in center field. Three innings later, Carroll singled, reached 30.1 ft/sec again while stealing second and scored on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.'s single in the fourth -- effectively making the D-backs' first two runs happen with his legs.
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The steal was Carroll’s 22nd in 24 tries this season -- and he leads the NL in slugging. The 22-year-old rookie is on pace to eclipse 35 homers and 45 stolen bases in a season, a feat only accomplished by Alex Rodriguez (42 HR, 46 SB in 1998) & Eric Davis (37 HR, 50 SB in 1987).
With Carroll leading the charge, “Show 'n Go” also speaks to the D-backs’ wider turn-and-burn team style. They’ve successfully converted 15 consecutive stolen-base attempts -- including seven in Sunday’s win over Milwaukee alone -- and rank fourth in MLB with 75 steals. Their 86.2 percent conversion rate is the second-best in baseball.
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“We're capable of doing a lot of different things, but our team speed is at the head of the class,” Lovullo said. “We can exploit some things and it makes a big difference.”
When the D-backs get on base, they’re going a lot. But in the standings, they’re showing that they aren’t going anywhere in the NL West. They enter this weekend’s big series in San Francisco with the fifth-best record in baseball and 17-7 since May 28, the game’s third-best record in that stretch.
“Energy, to me, is a choice,” Henry said. “It’s positive in the dugout: before the game, during the game, after the game. I think that’s a choice, and everybody is willing to make that choice. And that creates a positive vibe for the whole team.”