LEADING OFF: Diamondbacks can match dubious road record

A look at what’s happening around the majors today:

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ENDLESS ROAD

The beleaguered Arizona Diamondbacks have dropped 21 straight on the road, one short of the major league record.

Arizona can match a dubious mark shared by the 1963 New York Mets and 1943 Philadelphia Athletics when it plays the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Merrill Kelly (2-6, 5.14 ERA) pitches for the Diamondbacks against Anthony DeSclafani (6-2, 3.09), who tossed a two-hit shutout versus Washington last Friday.

Arizona hasn’t won on the road since April 25 at Atlanta.

“It wears you down,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “At some point we’re going to understand why we’re walking through this. I don’t want things to creep into the guys' heads about feeling sorry for themselves."

The Diamondbacks blew a seven-run lead Tuesday night in San Francisco and lost 9-8 when Mike Yastrzemski hit a go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the eighth inning. They've dropped 12 in a row overall.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles will attempt to stop a 17-game road losing streak when they play at Cleveland. Keegan Akin (0-1, 4.13 ERA) starts against Indians right-hander Aaron Civale (9-2, 3.17).

GET A GRIP

Now that Major League Baseball has detailed the coming crackdown on illegal substances, pitchers must get prepared to command their stuff without the same sort of tacky aides.

The commissioner’s office announced that pitchers will be ejected and suspended 10 games for using illicit sticky stuff to better their grip on the baseball. Increased enforcement begins Monday.

Responding to record strikeouts and a league batting average at a more than half-century low, MLB said Tuesday that major and minor league umpires will start regular checks of all pitchers, even if...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/LEADING-OFF-Diamondbacks-can-match-dubious-road-16251203.php