Snake Bytes 9/12: Emerald City

Arizona Diamondbacks 7, Seattle Mariners 3

[D’backs.com] Varsho does it all: ‘He’s a very special talent’ - Both at the plate and in the outfield, Daulton Varsho showed how versatile he can be on Saturday night. Varsho provided a pair of timely swings and collected a career-high-tying four RBIs — all of which came with two outs — and displayed his defensive skills in the D-backs’ 7-3 win over the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Varsho’s biggest knock was his two-run homer that capped a four-run fourth inning. D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said Varsho’s performance showed how he’s bounced back offensively in the second half of the season. “It was a terrific night for him, and those are the things that we’ve been seeing for the better half of these past couple months,” Lovullo said. “He seems to really be on the baseball, impacting the baseball and doing it at really critical times. And that’s what we ask our players to do — to be at their competitive best when it’s needed most. “He made a terrific play in right field. He just was all over the diamond, and that’s what he’s capable of. He’s a very special talent, and the more opportunity that he’s getting, the more he’s learning, the more he’s helping us win baseball games.”

[Arizona Sports] D-backs snap losing streak with road victory over Seattle - Arizona had lost 11 of 12 entering the game and snapped Seattle’s two-game winning streak. The Mariners had a chance to move into the second of two AL wild-card spots when the day started, but lost ground to Toronto and New York. Humberto Castellanos (2-1) gave up a two-run home run to Mitch Haniger – his 300th – two batters into the game. But he settled down in his first road start and retired 10 straight at one point before allowing a solo homer to Jarred Kelenic in fourth. He struck out four and scattered four hits over 5 1/3 innings. Pavin Smith and Seth Beer each had an RBI in the decisive fourth inning and David Peralta also drove in a run.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks’ Caleb Smith loses appeal, begins serving 10-game sticky stuff suspension - Diamondbacks left-hander Caleb Smith lost his appeal and he began serving a 10-game suspension on Saturday for having a foreign substance on his glove in a game last month. The Diamondbacks will not be allowed to replace Smith on the roster during the 10 games, a penalty somewhat mitigated by the two-man roster expansion in September. That is, they will have a 27-man roster while their opponents will have 28. Smith was not available for comment. Manager Torey Lovullo said Smith left the team and returned to Arizona. Lovullo expects Smith to remain in pitching shape and be ready to go when he is eligible on Sept. 22 vs. the Atlanta Braves.

[The Athletic] Happy hour: Seth Beer finally arrives in the majors, but how does he fit into the Diamondbacks’ future? - Wednesday, when he got the most important call of his career, Seth Beer was waist-deep in the Truckee River, a fishing rod in his hands. That’s where the Diamondbacks prospect and 2018 first-round pick likes to spend his off days. He’ll get out there in the late morning and fly fish until the sun sets. It allows him to decompress and be alone with his thoughts, putting the worries of baseball away. It’s just him, the trickle of the water and the fish. When the 24-year-old caught what he described as “my biggest rainbow trout,” it was already shaping up to be a good day. But then baseball intruded on his solitude in the best of ways. His Apple Watch buzzed, flashing the name of Triple-A Reno manager Blake Lalli. Surely, Beer thought, this was the call. His phone was in his backpack and his backpack was on the riverbank, so Beer made a frantic scramble — as harried as anyone can be in the middle of a river — to dry land. He slipped and submerged but recovered just in time to pick up the call.

Around the League

[MLB.com] Crew combines on record-breaking no-hitter - Corbin Burnes didn’t bother bartering or pleading at the end of the eighth inning. His Brewers are steamrolling their way to October, and those are the innings when they’ll need him most. So while Burnes’ no-hit bid was not over, his outing was. Still, with his good friend and teammate Josh Hader finishing off the 3-0 victory over Cleveland at Progressive Field, Burnes has his place in Brewers history, handling the bulk of the duties in a combined no-hitter that stands as the franchise’s first no-no of any type since 1987, while simultaneously sharpening his National League Cy Young Award case. “Watching those eight innings,” Hader said of Burnes’ effort, “was incredible.

[MLB.com] Mets, Yanks honor 9/11 as ‘one unified NY’ - Dressed in his Yankees road grays with the words “NEW YORK” stitched across the chest, Anthony Rizzo draped his arm around his former Cubs teammate Javier Báez, who stood next to him in a crisp white Mets uniform that also featured the city’s name. Francisco Lindor hugged his best friend, Gio Urshela. Michael Conforto embraced Luke Voit as the Citi Field crowd voiced its approval. Such was the scene early Saturday evening, 20 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, when the Mets and Yankees took the field together in a show of what public address announcer Marysol Castro described as “one unified New York.” The scene echoed the night of Sept. 21, 2001, at Shea Stadium, when the Mets and Braves embraced on the field in the first sporting event in New York following the tragedy.

[MLB Trade Rumors] AL West Notes: Chapman, Fiers, Greinke, Cobb, Rodriguez - After being placed on the Astros’ COVID-related injury list on August 31, Zack Greinke is scheduled to return and start on Tuesday when the Astros face the Rangers. Greinke, his wife, and his two sons all tested positive for the coronavirus despite being fully vaccinated, the right-hander told reporters (including The Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome), and all are now recovered. Greinke has a 3.66 ERA/4.55 SIERA over 159 2/3 innings this season, as one of the league’s best walk rates (5.0%) has helped Greinke succeed despite a 17% strikeout rate, his lowest K% since the 2005 season.