Diamondbacks Interleague Play Report Card: 4-2 Through Six Games

White Sox Play Big Late, D-Backs Fail To Respond In 8-2 Loss

The Arizona Diamondbacks looked to rebound from Saturday's embarassing 6-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox with a series-clinching victory on Sunday. Unfortunately, things went wrong down the stretch and Chicago walked away as 8-2 winners.

For most of the game, the White Sox and Diamondbacks remained close as both clubs failed to put points on the board. The White Sox finally took advantage in the seventh inning behind back-to-back homers by Paul Konereko and Alex Rio to open up a 3-0 lead. The two-homer inning saw the end of Diamondbacks pitcher Josh Collmenter, who played pretty well prior to the inning with only two hits allowed and five strikeouts.

Arizona replaced Collmenter with Esmerling Vasquez in the eighth, but their struggles only got worse as the White Sox produced five more runs to push the lead to 8-0. The Diamondbacks responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning on hits by Ryan Roberts and Justin Upton.

Unfortunately, those would be the only runs produced by the Diamondbacks all night. A scoreless ninth inning secured an 8-2 White Sox victory and dropped the Diamondbacks to 39-34 on the season. The Diamondbacks have now dropped two straight series (against the San Francisco Giants and now the Chicago White Sox), and they will look to rebound against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.

Konerko, Rios Push White Sox Past D-backs, 6-2

Zach Duke had a much better outing on Saturday evening than his last game against the Florida Marlins — lasting five-and-a-third innings giving up three runs — but ultimately it was not enough and the Arizona Diamondbacks lost some ground in the division after falling 6-2 to the Chicago White Sox.

Chicago’s Paul Konerko went three for four, with a home run, two RBIs, and two runs scored in helping the Sox to the win. But things were close through seven innings, with Chicago nursing a 3-2 lead going into the eighth. But Alex Rios hit a homer off of D-backs reliever Micah Owings that sent three runs in, blowing open the game at that point. Rios finished with four RBIs.

The D-backs were down 2-0 until the fourth. Willie Bloomquist singled and Stephen Drew hit a double line drive that smacked Chi Sox starting pitcher John Danks in the head — don’t worry; he was fine — putting runners on second and third. A wild pitch from Danks allowed Bloomquist to score, and a single from Justin Upton scored Drew to tie the game at 2.

But that was about it for offensive production, though things looked promising until Owings allowed the three-run homer. Owings had been solid in his 2011 relief appearances so far.

After the D-backs close out the interleague series on Sunday evening, they head out to play 16 of 19 on the road before the All Star break in Phoenix.

Diamondbacks Fireworks Celebration Turns Dangerous Friday Night

Daniel Hudson Complete Game Dominance In Win Over White Sox, 4-1

Daniel Hudson was brilliant against this former team. He went the full nine innings, giving up just one run and three hits to the Chicago White Sox. The Arizona Diamondbacks, on the other side of that trade, were able to hang four runs on Edwin Jackson to earn the 4-1 win in the first game of the series.

Hudson threw 119 pitches on the night and had just over 100 headed into the ninth inning. D-backs close J.J. Putz was warming up but had pitched the two previous nights and gave three runs in those outings. It was huge for Hudson to give his bullpen a rest and he wanted the ball in the ninth.

"I wanted to finish the game," Hudson said after the game. "I still felt strong coming after the eighth inning and Charlie (pitching coach Charles Nagy) came up and asked if I was still good and I said, 'yeah, I want to finish it.' I was really happy he was going to let me go back out and try and finish it."

Justin Upton picked up where he left off in Thursday's win over the Giants. He scored the last run of that game with a tenth inning walk-off home run. He knocked in the first run of this game in the first frame with a single that plated Stephen Drew. Doubles from Miguel Montero and Kelly Johnson added two more to the total and Hudson gave himself even more breathing room with an RBI double of his own in the seventh.

Paul Konerko hit a solo home run to do the only damage to Hudson's otherwise clean game.

For more on this game, visit AZ Snake Pit.

Interleague Play: Is Diamondbacks vs. White Sox Worth It?

Arizona Diamondbacks Host Chicago White Sox For More Interleague Play

The Arizona Diamondbacks (38-32) play host to an American League team for the second time this season. The Chicago White Sox (33-37) will see if they can't do better than their AL Central mates, the Minnesota Twins who were swept out of Chase Field in May. 

That series with the Twins was just a tiny taste of the AL. The D-backs now start a stretch of 15 games of Interleague Play with nine of those on the road and that means the dreaded DH.

There's already some chatter that the Snakes could call up big slugger Wily Mo Pena to serve in that role. He's been tearing it up in Reno with 21 homeruns and .739 slugging percentage. Some even think he deserves more of a shot than Sean Burroughs who's hit well off Gibson's bench.

Forget Sean Burroughs. What About Wily Mo Pena? - Beyond the Box Score
This isn't to say that we shouldn't be applauding Burroughs for his impressive return. What he's done is incredibly impressive. But frankly, it's not remotely as impressive as what Pena is doing. 

Burroughs is getting more attention right now because of his recent call-up, but I wouldn't be surprised if Pena ends up turning more heads in the end. For all of the hype that Sean Burroughs has gotten early in this season, I'd argue that he hasn't been the most impressive former prospect on the Reno Aces so far this season. That would be one Wily Mo Pena.

All that will have to wait for next week. These next three games will be played by the good ole National League rules which should suit the White Sox Friday starter just fine. You'll remember Edwin Jackson and his no-hitter from last season against the Rays. He's quite the gamer but trading him for Daniel Hudson AND prospect David Holmberg with his 27-inning scoreless streak seems like is a steal.

We'll welcome Edwin back and miss him a bit, but no regrets on that deal. Here's the pitching probables for the series.

• Friday: Daniel Hudson (7-5, 3.82) vs. Edwin Jackson (4-5, 4.39)
• Saturday: Zach Duke (1-1, 4.56) vs. John Danks (2-8, 4.54)
• Sunday: Josh Collmenter (4-2, 1.86) vs. Phil Humber (6-3, 2.95)

Friday's game is at 6:40 p.m. while Saturday's starts at 5:10 p.m. and Sunday at 1:10 for Father's Day.

AZ Snake Pit explains the extended trade history between the White Sox and Diamondbacks:

Series Preview #24: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Chicago White Sox - AZ Snake Pit
Following a thrilling walk-off victory that transformed a pivotal series against the Giants from "disastrous" to simply "meh," the Diamondbacks host the Chicago White Sox as interleague play begins in earnest. 

I'll level with you guys for a minute: I don't so much think of White Sox as an opposing team, as I think of them as the D-Backs' five-year pen-pal.  Except that rather than periodically exchanging notes with banal pleasantries every year or so, the D-Backs and White Sox exchange baseball players. 

Since the end of 2005, the Diamondbacks and White Sox have made four major trades that have influenced the paths of both franchises.