Marte and Gurriel Jr. power Diamondbacks into key series against Padres

Fresh off a sweep of the Seattle Mariners, the Diamondbacks are finding consistency at the plate. Ketel Marte has been on a tear, hitting .320 over his last seven games with a .452 on-base percentage and .560 slugging. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has also heated up, batting .316 over his last 15 games.

The Snakes are coming off of sweeping the Seattle Mariners, as their bats have come alive and  theirnconsistency at the plate has begun with execution from their stars. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Ketel Marte have recently led the way for this Arizona ball club. Marte in the last seven games is hitting .320 and slugging .560 with a .452 on-base percentage. Gurriel Jr. has hit a .316 batting average over his last 15 games, accompanied by a .456 slugging percentage.

Friday’s mound matchups:

Ryne Nelson will look to shake off his last start and make the most of this opportunity for the D-Backs. Nelson only was able to get through three innings while allowing seven earned runs on four hits in a 13-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. With all of the injuries to the pitching staff this season, Nelson has come on and has been a bright spot at times and will look to continue that against San Diego.

The Padres will be having Stephen Kolek face off against Nelson on Friday night. Kolek has a 3-1 record with a 3.00 ERA on the season. In his last two outings, Kolek had an identical day as he pitched 5.2 innings and only gave up three hits and no earned runs in both outings against the Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants.

Making up some ground is paramount for these Diamondbacks, as they currently sit 4.5 games behind the San Diego Padres for the third spot in the NL West. The first pitch at Chase Field on Friday will be at 6:40 p.m. PT.