This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert’s D-backs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
When a team looks at its schedule it knows that there will be certain road trips where rain could be a factor -- we’re looking at you Pittsburgh.
San Diego is not one of those places.
But yet here we are today with the D-backs playing a split-doubleheader because of a hurricane possibly hitting San Diego.
Yes, you read that right, Hurricane Hilary, which checked in as a Category 4 hurricane Saturday morning, is expected to turn into a tropical storm as it nears San Diego and dump a whole lot of rain beginning late Saturday night and running through Monday.
With that in mind, Major League Baseball decided the two teams would be better off playing a doubleheader Saturday instead of single games Saturday and Sunday.
The move adds to the D-backs' recent pitching concerns after their three-game series against the Rockies left their bullpen taxed.
In addition, the D-backs are a starter short in the rotation with Ryne Nelson having been optioned to Triple-A Reno prior to the trip. That necessitated a bullpen game in Colorado and it might be what happens in the second game Saturday.
As of Saturday morning, Merrill Kelly will start in the first game, but what happens in the second game is up in the air.
The D-backs can add an extra player for the doubleheader, per MLB rules, but they still might end up needing to go with a bullpen game.
"I don’t know what the answers are right now,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "We have a lot of moving parts to it. We’re just glad we get to play both games. Restructuring the schedule and flying here and there as we did in Washington [in June to make up a game] is a little taxing on the team. The fact that we’re going to play two games [Saturday] is, in my opinion, the right choice, and we’ll be ready to go."
The D-backs are counting on Kelly to provide them with innings, something that is usually a safe bet.
“Tomorrow in Game 1 it's Merrill and everybody [in the bullpen] is going to be 100 percent ready to go,” Lovullo said after Friday night’s loss. “And we're going to try and win that game. What happens in Game 2 obviously depends a lot on Game 1.”
Had Sunday’s game not been postponed, veteran Zach Davies, who has been on the injured list for a month with a lower back issue, would have been a candidate to start. Instead, he will start for Triple-A Reno, his third injury-rehab start.
Brandon Pfaadt helped the equation greatly by giving the D-backs seven strong innings Friday night. Still, the next few days will be a challenge for the D-backs, who return home to face the Rangers in a two-game series beginning Monday
“We’re tired,” Lovullo said. “Our staff is tired. No doubt about it."
Senior Reporter Steve Gilbert has covered the D-backs for MLB.com since 2001.