Colorado Rockies wild card preview: the D’Backs talk Gray and history

The Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks are inching closer to the National League Wild Card game coming on Wednesday. It will be broadcast on TBS at 6 PM MST.

The Rockies will be facing the Arizona Diamondbacks in about 48 hours at Chase Field in Phoenix. Today, the Diamondbacks had a work out for the game. Some of their players also talked with the media. Three of their players had interesting quotes about Rockies probable starter Jon Gray (h/t Mark Brown of our sister site, Call to the Pen).

Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb

The D’Backs third baseman, Jake Lamb, has had an excellent 2017 season as he had 30 home runs and 105 RBI in 149 games for the Snakes this season. He had this to say about facing Jon Gray:

He’s their guy. He’s pitched well against us. Look, they have their best guys and have confidence in him. We have our best guy (Zack Greinke) going, and this should be a fun game.

D’Backs outfielders A.J. Pollock and David Peralta

D’Backs outfielder A.J. Pollock also had some words about facing Jon Gray.

(Gray’s) is a tough pitcher. His fast ball is in the upper 90s and a nasty slider. We have to make him feel uncomfortable. If that happens, he’ll make a mistake or two, and we have to be ready [to pounce on those mistakes].

Pollock’s fellow outfielder, David Peralta, had similar sentiments about Gray.

If he makes a mistake, we have to be ready to jump on that. This game cannot be won by one guy. We will win as a team. We need to be ready. We need to have a good approach, and a good game plan.

Gray against the D’Backs this season

As Lamb alluded to, in 2017, Jon Gray has pitched well against the D’Backs. In three starts, he is 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA and the D’Backs are hitting .264 against him.

At Chase Field, they have hit .269 against him but in two starts, he is 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA there this season.

The D’Backs also have some differing numbers on Gray. For the good for the Rockies, Paul Goldschmidt is 0-for-11 with five strikeouts in his career against Gray. However, Lamb is 4-for-13 (.308 average), David Peralta is 6-for-13 (.462), Brandon Drury is 3-for-8 (.375), and Pollock is 3-for-7 (.429) with three doubles.

Zack Greinke against the Rockies in 2017

Greinke has faced the Rockies five times this season and he is 2-1 with a 3.41 ERA and the Rockies are only hitting .229 against him.

Three of those five starts were at Chase Field. In two of the three starts, he went seven innings only allowing two runs. In the other start, he went six innings allowing three runs. The starts were in April, July, and September. His ERA in the three starts is 3.15.

The Rockies have faced Greinke a lot in his career and most of them have good numbers against him. Charlie Blackmon is 13-for-49 (.265), Nolan Arenado is 13-for-47 (.277), DJ LeMahieu is 14-for-45 (.311), Carlos Gonzalez is 14-for-42 (.333), Gerardo Parra is 12-for-43 (.279), Trevor Story is 8-for-24 (.333), and Jonathan Lucroy is 7-for-11 (.636).

The only two regulars in the lineup who have faced him more than a eight times who have not done well are Mark Reynolds (7-for-36, .194) and Ian Desmond (3-for-22, .136).