Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
Arizona Diamondbacks at Chicago Cubs in rain delay; Eugenio Suarez out of lineup for finale
CHICAGO — The Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs, whose game started after a 39-minute delay, entered another rain delay before the first inning was complete, but resumed shortly thereafter with the Cubs grabbing an early lead.
With one out in the bottom of the first, umpires called for the tarp to be pulled. Both pitcher Merrill Kelly and shortstop Geraldo Perdomo were speaking with umpires on their way off the field, seemingly bothered by some aspect of the decision-making regarding the delays.
Before the delay, Chicago starter Jameson Taillon held Arizona scoreless in the top of the first. Ian Happ singled and Kyle Tucker drew a walk from Kelly.
When play resumed, Michael Busch singled home Happ.
The game has moved to the fourth inning with the Cubs holding a 1-0 lead.
Eugenio Suarez out of lineup for finale
CHICAGO — Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez is getting his first day off this season, with manager Torey Lovullo saying he had been eyeing this day on the calendar for a while.
The Sunday, April 20, game has been delayed by rain. The game is scheduled for a noon MST (2 p.m. in Chicago) start.
Lovullo is giving Suarez the day despite his strong career numbers against Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon, whom he twice took deep on March 28 at Chase Field.
“I felt like Geno needed a day off,” Lovullo said. “I’m trying to balance that out the best that I can. I know what the conditions are, what the matchup looked like, but I’ve got to, every once in a while, get people off their feet and give them a blow.”
Lovullo said he wanted to combine the day off on April 20 with the April 21 scheduled off day in hopes of allowing Suarez to fully recharge.
Diamondbacks at Cubs, 11:20 a.m., Cox, Ch. 34
RHP Merrill Kelly (3-1, 5.57) vs. Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon (1-1, 5.40).
At Wrigley Field: Kelly was sharp in his most recent outing, giving up just one run in six innings against the Marlins last week in Miami. He struck out nine and walked one in what was his best start yet this season. … Kelly’s four-seam fastball has been hit hard this year, with opponents owning a .296 average and .741 slugging off it. … Kelly has a 3.49 ERA in seven career starts against the Cubs. Taillon was hit hard in his first outing – he gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innings in an outing against the Diamondbacks – but has been better over his past three, posting a 3.63 ERA in 17 1/3 innings. … He is getting whiffs on 44.1 percent of the swings taken against his sweeper. … 3B Eugenio Suarez has hit Taillon well, going 9 for 34 (.265) with two doubles and five homers.
Coming up
Monday, April 21: Off.
Tuesday, April 22: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (3-1, 3.04) vs. Rays RHP Zack Littell (0-4, 5.48).
Wednesday, April 23: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (1-2, 4.09) vs. Rays RHP Taj Bradley (2-1, 5.24).
Thursday, April 24: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Corbin Burnes (0-1, 4.64) vs. Rays RHP Drew Rasmussen (1-1, 0.87).
In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
-
Movie Reviews4 minutes ago‘Hen’ movie review: György Pálfi pecks at Europe’s migrant crisis through the eyes of a chicken
-
Business33 minutes agoVideo: Why Your Paycheck Feels Smaller
-
Culture57 minutes agoFamous Authors’ Less Famous Books
-
Lifestyle1 hour agoSunday Puzzle: For Mimi
-
Technology1 hour agoThe future of local TV news has taken a Trumpian turn
-
World1 hour agoPope Leo says remarks about world being ‘ravaged by a handful of tyrants’ were not aimed at Trump: report
-
Politics1 hour agoTrump renews bridge, power plant threat against Iran in push for deal, mocks ‘tough guy’ IRGC
-
Health2 hours agoLoneliness may be silently eroding your memory, new research reveals