The Diamondbacks wrap up a 10-game, four-city road trip on Sunday, Aug. 2, in Cleveland against the Guardians, then head home to Chase Field for a long stretch capped by a matchup with the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Right-hander Merrill Kelly is in line to start Sunday’s game and looks to continue trending upward in recent appearances.
Beginning Monday, Arizona will play 10 straight home games, all against National League West opponents. The first four begin Monday, Aug. 3, against the San Diego Padres, with that series ending Aug. 6.
The NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers are in town Aug. 5-7 for a weekend matchup.
The Padres aren’t out of the National League wild-card race, sitting only a game and a half behind the Diamondbacks entering play on Thursday, July 30. Their record against teams that are better than .500 on that day was 22-38, one of the worst in Major League Baseball.
Fernando Tatis Jr. has been the Padres’ most consistent hitter this season, while righty Michael King has been their most effective starting pitcher.
The Dodgers continue to run away with the division, and don’t look like they will be caught by the Diamondbacks or anyone else. Everything with L.A. starts and ends with megastar Shohei Ohtani, but Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages are having big years.
The starting rotation, even without Ohtani for the time being, is formidable, led by ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, All-Star Justin Wrobleski and the improving Roki Sasaki.
Starters Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are working their way back from injuries, and the Dodgers could easily make a deadline move to bolster pitching or add positional depth.
All four games against the Padres August 3-6 start at 6:40 p.m. MST at Chase Field. Start times against the Dodgers are 6:40 p.m. Aug. 7, 5:10 p.m. on Aug. 8 and 1:10 p.m. on Aug. 9.
The Aug. 7 game, a Friday night, features a free postgame concert featuring global Latin music superstar Jhayco. The Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and producer has become one of the leading voices in Latin urban music.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks wrap roadie in Cleveland, come home to host NL West teams
