Arizona Diamondbacks Sign RHP David Hernandez To A Two-Year Deal

On Sunday, the Arizona Diamondbacks came to terms with right-handed pitcher David Hernandez on a two-year contract, according to MLB.com.

"I love how the organization has treated me since I've been over here," Hernandez said. "I can see myself living here one day past baseball. I'm definitely grateful and hopefully I can be here well after two years."

Hernandez joined the Diamondbacks via trade in 2011 from Baltimore for third baseman Mark Reynolds. Hernandez has a 3.15 ERA in 141 career relief appearances and has continued to improve over time, including setting career-highs last season with 11 saves, 74 games and 77 strikeouts. So far this season, he carries a 2.90 ERA with 45 strikeouts.

"He's been great for us since he's come over here," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "He's been dominant for us, he's healthy and he's got a golden arm. We believe in him and what he can do in the future."

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Arizona Diamondbacks Player/Pitcher Of The Week: Miley Looking Like ROY, Aaron Hill Hits For Cycle

Kevin Youkilis Traded To White Sox...Whew!

All Signs Pointing To A Trevor Bauer Debut On Thursday

Wade Miley, Diamondbacks Beat Cubs 5-1 to Complete Sweep

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Wade Miley pitched 8 strong innings to beat Matt Garza and the Chicago Cubs 5-1 on Sunday, as the D-backs completed the three-game sweep and moved to 37-35 on the season. Arizona is now only 5.5 games behind division-leading Los Angeles and 2.5 games behind the Giants.

Miley moved to 9-3 after a strong start in which he retired 20 of the first 21 batters, ultimately giving up only three hits and one walk while striking out seven. The only run he gave up was on a solo home run to Alphonso Soriano.

Jason Kubel hit a solo home run, and Justin Upton led the Diamondbacks with three RBI, including a clutch two-run single in the 8th inning that helped widen the lead.

The Cubs have now lost four straight and eight of 11, and their record goes to an MLB-worst 24-48.

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Recent Resurgence Of Justin Upton Great News For Arizona Diamondbacks

Diamondbacks Score Six Runs In Fourth Inning, Roll On To 10-5 Win

The Arizona Diamondbacks are back over .500 for the season following their 10-5 win over the Chicago Cubs Saturday night. At least for a few hours until Sunday afternoon's game against the Cubs.

The Diamondbacks exploded for six runs in the fourth inning off Cubs starter Paul Maholm, on four singles, a triple and an error, and got solo home runs from Justin Upton and Paul Goldschmidt in powering to their third straight win and fourth in five games.

They moved to 36-35 on the season, the first time they've been over .500 since May 4 after a win over the New York Mets to raise the D-backs' record to 14-13 at that time.

Jason Kubel continued his torrid June with two more runs batted in, giving him 22 this month alone. That's tops in the National League.

All nine starters reached based at least once for the Diamondbacks, who led 1-0, trailed 2-1, led 7-2 and then watched No. 1 starter Ian Kennedy disintegrate in the fifth. That was the only blighted spot on a winning Saturday for the D-backs, that Kennedy -- on his bobblehead night for goodness sake -- was roughed up by the lowly Cubs for five runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings, tying the shortest outing for Kennedy this season.

The winning pitcher was Craig Breslow, who relieved Kennedy and allowed two hits with three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.

Willie Bloomquist and Goldschmidt had three hits; Upton, Kubel, Ryan Roberts and Miguel Montero had two apiece. The Diamondbacks, with 38,542 fans in attendance at Chase Field Saturday, drew the second-largest crowd of the season to the stadium (after Opening Day) and moved over the 1 million-mark in total attendance for the season (1,004,439). They also got their biggest walk-up crowd of the season, around 4,500 fans.

Montero and Upton were both hit with pitches, Montero in the hand but he shook it off and remained in the game.

David DeJesus had four hits for the Cubs, tying a career high, and Starlin Castro also went 4-for-5, tying his career high.

Gibson Mum On Options To Replace Saunders In Rotation

Should we be too surprised that Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson isn't forthcoming about what the D-backs will do to replace the injured Joe Saunders, who went on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left shoulder Saturday after being scratched from his start right before Friday's game?

Nope. Playing it close to the vest is a Gibby staple.

But there are options, and Gibson said they're mostly internal. The most obvious one is to keep Josh Collmenter in the rotation after his solid four innings Friday, with the hope being that Collmenter has solved his problems as a starter from earlier in the season.

"He's just so versatile, he's got the experience," Gibson said before Saturday's game against the Chicago Cubs, adding that it isn't likely but still possible the D-backs could look for a replacement outside the organization.

Collmenter makes the most sense, given that he'll be unavailable unless a game goes in to deep extra innings for the next two or three days anyway. But the D-backs lose their best long reliever in that case.

The off-day Monday might allow the D-backs to move Saturday's starter, Ian Kennedy, up a day to cover for the absence of Saunders. And then there is Trevor Bauer, waiting for his shot at the bigs down in Reno.

"He's a candidate, probably, as well as anybody. Is he ready? How do you know?" Gibson said. "There's certain things that he does great. We all know he's got great stuff... If I was Trevor...I would argue I'd get better with better competition, and I think that's probably how he thinks."

Patrick Corbin, who has big-league experience with five starts earlier this season, could also get a callup.

The good news for Saunders is that his shoulder problem appears to be just irritation and nothing more, though Saunders said he underwent an MRI Saturday morning.

Saunders said he's been told to take it easy for a few days and doesn't know when he will throw next, but he doesn't expect any major rehabilitation.

In his mind, he'd like to miss only one start.

"They don't want to keep having this come up and they just want to take care of it right now. So they're just playing the cautious role and shutting me down for a little while and then starting me back up and then I'll be all good to go for the rest of the year," Saunders said Saturday.

Joe Saunders To DL, But No Trevor Bauer...Yet

On Saturday, the Arizona Diamondbacks made a roster move, just a day after Joe Saunders missed his start with shoulder stiffness. The team placed him on the 15-day disabled list and called up right-handed reliever Jonathan Albaladejo, who has had a short stint this season with the major league club already.

Saunders began warming up on Friday for his start against the Chicago Cubs, but was unable to get loose and Josh Collmenter made the start in his place.

He was throwing the ball well on Saturday and was going to see team doctors, but the team decided to make a move. He will have to miss at least one more start.

While there are trade rumors swirling surrounding Saunders, it appears that nothing is imminent.

It was also speculated that moving Saunders would signal the call up of Trevor Bauer. That is not happening now. However, the calling up of Albaladejo does not eliminate that possibility.

With Josh Collmenter unavailable out of the bullpen for a few days after pitching four innings on Friday, the D-backs needed someone to be able to fill a long relief role. With Saunders spot not coming up for at least another five days (with an off day on Monday, the team does not technically even need a fifth starter this time around), it is completely possible that Albalabejo gets sent back down and Bauer gets brought up to make his major league debut.

Likewise, Collmenter could get the start and Albaladejo stays in the pen.

Since manager Kirk Gibson has really grown to like Collmenter out of the pen, signs point to either skipping Saunders' turn this time around or bringing someone up.

However, Gibson said in his pregame press conference Saturday that "it is to be determined." Bauer is an option, so is Collmenter and don't forget Patrick Corbin, who already has started in the majors for Arizona. Corbin is a bit more polished than Bauer in all facets of pitching, while Bauer has been dominating, but still needs to learn the finer points of the game in pitch efficiency and managing a game.

Whatever the decision is, it will come in the next few days.

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Kirk Gibson Joins In Justin Bieber Fever As He Contributes To Auction Of Autographed Card

Joe Saunders' Shoulder Injury 'Fluky' (And Maybe A Little Bit Fishy)

It was certainly a surprise for fans and the media when at gametime Friday night it was announced that Joe Saunders was being replaced as the starting pitcher by Josh Collmenter. It was reported that Saunders couldn't get loose, so after the game, it certainly was the cause for many questions.

Manager Kirk Gibson didn't have much to say, as his pitching coach Charles Nagy came at the last minute telling him that Saunders couldn't go and they decided to go with Collmenter. Said Gibby, "He started to warm up and his shoulder was kind of stiff and he just couldn't get it loose, so we shut him down and went to Collmenter."

Saunders gave pretty much the same story. "Was just one of those weird fluke things where I just couldn't get loose.," he explained after the game. "I don't know if it was...maybe I slept on it wrong. I felt great in my last outing, I felt great in the bullpen session on Wednesday, so I just think this is kind of a fluke thing where it just wouldn't get loose."

He apparently didn't try to work through it much by throwing, as he said threw "not many" pitches before the decision was made.

He had a few tests done, testing his strength, and there was nothing to be concerned about, as he "was off the charts" strengthwise, so he's "not worried about anything structurally."

He speculated that he might just need to take a day or two off, but that he joked he would probably tape himself on his right side tonight while sleeping. The plan after that? "Come in tomorrow and see how I feel," he said.

The whole thing felt a little strange, like it wasn't the whole story. Already speculation had gone around that there is a trade in the works involving Saunders. When Gibson was asked about it, he said, "I have no clue about that right now."

That's understandable. He would definitely not comment on a pending deal.

However, the situation just doesn't feel completely right.

The timeline seems like it could be a little bit off. Josh Collmenter, who made the start in place of Saunders, said, "I found out walking down that I might need to be ready and saw Joe was trying to get loose and you could tell something wasn't quite right."

Saunders didn't throw many pitches, yet Collmenter knew he might have to start and then he saw Saunders throwing. Certainly it is possible that it all fits and there is no evidence otherwise other than it is a strange situation.

But Saunders' name has been swirling around for some time in connection to a possible deal that would bring Kevin Youkilis to Arizona.

The whole thing could be "as dumb and as fluky" as his having slept wrong on his left arm, but there is just enough to question to think there is something else going on. If there is something else, then the one thing that can be said is that Saunders is being a good soldier about it.

Maybe there is a deal all but in place. Maybe there is just the possibility of a deal AND he felt a little stiffness. Perhaps it is just as everyone is saying.

But it is just off enough to make someone think that there might be something more to the story. If there is, we will know soon enough. It doesn't look like it is anything serious enough to cause him to lose time on the disabled list, so it must be either just what was said or some trade in the works or at least perhaps in the works.

All this could be the beginning of a new third baseman and the debut of pitching phenom Trevor Bauer. Or it might not be.

Fluky? Yes. Fishy? A little bit.

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Brad Ziegler And David Hernandez Don't Just Pitch Well, They Hit Pretty Well Too

Bullpen Shines As Arizona Diamondbacks Defeat Chicago Cubs 6-1 In Series Opener

The 24-45 (10-26 away) Chicago Cubs find themselves taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a weekend matchup at Chase Field. The D-backs, winners of 2 of 3 games against the Seattle Mariners, were hoping to keep their winning ways alive against another inferior team. Things got off to a shaky start, but the Diamondbacks managed to piece everything together.

Right before the first pitch was thrown, it was announced that the presumed starter, Joe Saunders had been scratched from the game due to his inability to get loose in the bullpen. Speculation was abound as to whether or not he had an undisclosed injury or if he had even possibly been traded.

Instead, Josh Collmenter took the mound after having been relegated to the bullpen earlier this season. All started well for Collmenter as he threw a shutout through the first three innings. In the top of the fourth, he allowed a towering solo home run to Geovany Soto, making the score 1-0.

Jason Kubel retaliated by hitting a two-run blase of his own in the bottom of the inning. The bomb into left field put the D-backs up by a score of 2-1.

Collmenter was relieved by Brad Ziegler after the fourth inning. He gave up just one earned run and had six strikeouts on 85 pitches in what could be called a short order start. In exchange, Ziegler then proceeded to hit his first career major league hit in the bottom of the fifth after staying in to pitch another inning. That led to a series of hits from Willie Bloomquist and Aaron Hill, sending Ziegler across the plate and making the score 3-1.

Continuing their scoring efforts, Miguel Montero hit a triple, scoring both Jason Kubel and the previously walked Paul Goldschmidt. That marked Montero's first triple of the season and just the fourth in his career. That was followed up by a ground rule double in the seventh by Justin Upton, giving him his 28th RBI in 2012.

Closing out the rest of the game were Craig Breslow, Bryan Shaw and David Hernandez (who also got his first career hit in the 8th inning).

The D-backs will continue their series against the Cubs tomorrow night when Ian Kennedy (5-7) takes on Paul Maholm (4-5).

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Joe Saunders Misses Start With Shoulder Trouble, Could This Be Trevor Bauer's Chance?

Josh Collmenter To Start Against The Cubs, Joe Saunders 'Can't Get Loose In Bullpen'

Joe Saunders was set to take the mound tonight as the Diamondbacks begin their series against the Chicago Cubs, but according to a press box announcement, he has been scratched at the last minute. Josh Collmenter will assume the duties of starting pitcher for the night.

The announcement made claimed that Saunders was simply unable to get loose in the bullpen, but many questions can be raised from this. Did Saunders get traded? Does he have an undisclosed injury?

Regardless, if Saunders has to go to the DL or if he now plays for another team, the possibility of Trevor Bauer finally getting called up is closer than ever.

Diamondbacks Skipper Kirk Gibson Still Thinks Team Will Make Playoffs

Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers was on the airwaves a couple of days ago to discuss the team's possibilities of making the postseason for the second consecutive year. In the interview, KT stated that he was going to, "stick his neck out there" and predict a playoff berth for the D-backs.

Before Friday night's game against the Chicago Cubs, manager Kirk Gibson seemed to share those same sentiments. In fact, he didn't even see it as something that he was sticking his neck out for.

When asked to what his reaction was to Towers' comments, Gibson had this to say:

"I don't think it's sticking your neck out. Why would you think differently? What we do, there's going to be frustrating things that happen. We have got a ton of games to go. You just have to remain on task, on target. You have to power through the doubt."

"Do we wish we were in first place? Of course. We're not. Does that change anything? Do we get really frustrated and cash it in? No way."

Gibby then proceeded to emphatically say that he thinks the Diamondbacks will reach the postseason once again.

Today's starting lineups against the Cubs are as follows:

Cubs:

1. Reed Johnson, RF
2. Starlin Castro, SS
3. Alfonso Soriano, LF
4. Jeff Baker, 1B
5. Geovany Soto, C
6. Darwin Barney, 2B
7. Joe Mather, CF
8. Luis Valbuena, 3B
9. Jeff Samardzija, P

Diamondbacks:

1. Willie Bloomquist, SS
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Justin Upton, RF
4. Jason Kubel, LF
5. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
6. Miguel Montero, C
7. Chris Young, CF
8. Ryan Roberts, 3B
9. Joe Saunders, P

Diamondbacks Vs. Cubs Preview: Pitching Probables, Game Times, And More