It seems weird to conclude the season in interleague play, but with an odd number of teams in each league, it’s a necessity. It also allows the Arizona Diamondbacks to get an extra batter some at-bats leading into October. Meanwhile, for the Kansas City Royals, this is the finale series for a core group of players that ultimately led the Royals to two World Series appearances and one win.
This series will be contested from Friday, September 29, 2017 through Sunday, October 1, 2017 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
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Pitching Matchups
The Diamondbacks’ ace, Zack Greinke, will kick off this series on the mound as Arizona faces their former ace in Ian Kennedy.
Greinke will pitch on Friday with an extra day of rest so he lines up for Wednesday’s NL Wild Card game. The veteran right-hander is 17-6 with a 3.18 ERA and 1.054 WHIP in his 198.1 innings of work.
The 33-year old is coming off his worst outing of the year, allowing eight runs in four innings to the Marlins. That’s not good, but looks like a one-off loss for a starter who was just off his game that day.
While playing an interleague game, Greinke won’t feel out of place at Kauffman Stadium. The former Royal is 36-29 at the stadium with a 3.52 ERA. In his career, he’s only faced the Royals three times and hasn’t notched a win, though he’s only allowed seven runs in 21 innings.
As for Kennedy, he, too, is coming off a rather rough start, allowing five runs over 5.1 innings against the White Sox. Unlike Greinke, this isn’t a usual thing for Kennedy. The right-hander is 4-13 with a 5.50 ERA and 1.336 WHIP in 149 innings. He’s allowed a staggering 33 home runs and has an unimpressive 2.07 strikeout to walk ratio.
In a smaller, more recent sample size, Kennedy comes into his last start of the year having lost each of his last three games, allowing 10 runs in 13.1 innings.
Moving on to the second game of the series, the Diamondbacks will turn to Taijuan Walker as the Royals give the ball to rookie right-hander Jackob Junis.
Walker has had a nice year, finally living up the lofty expectations that were placed on him when he was drafted in 2010 and broke into the majors at 20 years old, three years later.
The right-hander is only 9-9 and will try and get over .500 on Saturday. He’s pitched better than his record with a 3.54 ERA in 27 starts. His WHIP is a bit high due to a 3.5 walks per nine innings ratio and that’s driven up his FIP a bit. Nevertheless, he’s done a good job at limiting the home run ball. The long ball was an issue for him last year. Despite moving to a more hitter friendly park, he’s done well keep the ball in the yard.
His last two starts, however, have been a bit shaky. He allowed seven runs—only three earned—in 3.2 innings against Miami last time out. The Diamondbacks now have lost three straight when Walker has taken the ball. The team is only 4-10 in his last 14 starts.
On the other side, Junis comes into play with an 8-3 record and 4.39 ERA. The ERA would have been lower, but his last outing was rough. He allowed six runs in 5.2 innings against the Yankees.
Aside from that start, however, Junis has allowed three or fewer earned runs in each of his previous six starts and nine of his previous 10. He’s just a rookie, but he keeps the team in the game which is evident by the Royals’ 12-7 record in his 19 appearances.
The series—and season—comes to an end on Sunday. Robbie Ray toes the rubber for Arizona in this game as he brushes up in hopes of a series opening start against the Dodgers. Jason Vargas gets the start on Sunday looking for his 19th win of the year.
While Vargas is 18-10 with a 3.94 ERA, a deeper look reveals a tale of two seasons for the veteran southpaw. Vargas was 12-3 with a 2.62 ERA in the first half. Since the All-Star break, he’s 6-7 with a 5.97 ERA.
Vargas has been better in September than his horrible showings in July and August. He’s 4-1 with a 4.44 ERA. He allowed just one runs in six innings his last time out. Granted, that was against a decimated Tigers’ team.
For Ray, this has been a year where he’s taken the next step, establishing himself as one of the NL’s better pitchers.
The 25-year old southpaw is 15-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 27 starts. He last a few outings due to injury or he could be pushing 20 wins. He leads the NL in strikeouts per nine innings with 12.2. He’s dominant when he’s on his game, but control is still an issue. He has a good 3.06 strikeout to walk ratio, but is walking four per nine innings which is quite high. Fortunately, few can square him up so his BABIP and hits allowed are down leading to a still strong 1.160 WHIP.
Ray has made seven starts since coming off the DL and only one has been bad. He’s allowed more than a single run in only two of those seven starts and has allowed more than two in just one.
Who's Hot?
J.D. Martinez is on another level right now. He stands above everyone in September including Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
The outfielder has been red-hot ever since joining the D-Backs, but over the last month, it’s reached ridiculous proportions. Since the start of the month, Martinez is batting .418 with 16 home runs and 36 RBIs in 22 games. His 16 homers are four times the number hit by A.J. Pollock who has the second most of any Arizona player in September.
Martinez’s remarkable slash line is .418/.455/1.022. That gives him an OPS of 1.477. He is the single biggest reason the Diamondbacks are 16-9 and amid their best month of the year.
Of course, one player doesn’t make a team. Pollock does have a .340 OBP this month and Chris Iannetta is hitting .304.
On the mound, the Diamondbacks’ starting pitchers are all throwing well save a few hiccups for Patrick Corbin. The bullpen has had a couple more lumps, but Fernando Rodney and Archie Bradley continue to get the job done.
The Royals don’t have anyone that can come close to as hot as Martinez is right now, but they have a couple swinging well.
Alcides Escobar is doing his best to improve his stock heading into free agency. A bad year is ending well as he’s batting .348 this month. Alex Gordon has finally found his stroke, too. Meanwhile, Eric Hosmer, Whit Merrifield and Lorenzo Cain are all batting over .300 with a .360 or better OBP in September.
Who's Not?
When Martinez is as hot as he is, you don’t need another basher in the middle of the order. That’s good for Arizona as Paul Goldschmidt is slumping. They need him hitting better heading into October.
Right now, Goldy is batting .192 in the month and has a .268 OBP. Other slumping batters include Jake Lamb who is batting .211 and David Peralta who has a .675 OPS on the month.
On the mound, David Hernandez has given up a couple key homers in his set up role and some of the other arms leading into Rodney are questionable aside from Bradley. The Royals, however, have had similar bullpen issues.
Trevor Cahill has allowed six homers over 12 innings in seven games since the start of September. He’s provided anything but relief. The same can be said about Brandon Maurer and Kelvim Herrera. The duo has allowed 17 combined runs in 13.2 combined innings.
At the dish, the biggest concern for the Royals right now is right field. Neither Paulo Orlando nor Jorge Bonifacio is hitting well.
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