The Arizona Diamondbacks started their 10-game trip the right way Friday night with an 8-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
They will try to keep the momentum going Saturday in the second game of the three-game series. The trip will continue in Philadelphia with three games and wind up in Washington with a four-game series.
The Diamondbacks will start right-hander Zack Greinke (6-2, 3.09 ERA) Saturday against Toronto right-hander Aaron Sanchez (3-6, 3.95).
One Arizona player who would like to get a chance to play against the Blue Jays is outfielder Adam Jones, who sat out the game Friday because of a tight right hamstring. He was available off the bench, but was not needed.
Jones, a former Baltimore Oriole, has 36 career homers and 98 RBIs against Toronto.
Jones left the game Tuesday because of the hamstring.
“We don’t think it’s going to require the full 10 days that the injured list would give him,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We think he’s going to be day-to-day and just filling in a lot of health gaps and getting the treatment that he needs.”
The Blue Jays dropped to 12-20 at home this season with the loss Friday and have lost 12 of their past 15 games overall. According to Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, the team does have a strong candidate for the All-Star Game in closer Ken Giles. He obviously was not needed Friday, but the Jays would be only too happy to need him Saturday.
Giles has 11 saves in 12 opportunities, posting a 1.08 ERA in 26 games with seven walks and 42 strikeouts over 25 innings.
“He’s been lights out,” Montoyo said of Giles. “I give him all the credit. He’ll do anything for the team. I didn’t know he was like that.
“This guy’s been great. He’s a good teammate, he’ll get four outs, he’ll get five outs if he has to. He’s got no problem with that.”
Greinke did not factor in the decision for his second straight start June 1 when he allowed four runs and seven hits in four innings against the New York Mets.
He had been dealing with a stiff neck, so he was given an extra day between starts by flipping places in the rotation with Merrill Kelly, who started and won the opener on Friday with a strong seven innings.
Greinke needs three strikeouts to match A.J. Burnett for 34th on the all-time list at 2,513.
Greinke has not faced the Blue Jays since 2010. In 11 games (nine starts) against Toronto, he is 3-4 with a 4.45 ERA. He is 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA at the Rogers Centre.
Sanchez has faced the Diamondbacks once in his career, earning the win July 19, 2016, at Arizona, allowing one run, six hits and no walks while striking out five in seven innings.
He has dealt with fingers problems for the third season in a row.
In his past five starts, Sanchez has alternated between six and three innings, going 0-3 with a 5.25 ERA over that span. His third start of six innings in that sequence came Sunday, when he allowed seven hits, three walks and four runs in Toronto’s 5-1 road loss to the Colorado Rockies.
