Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
Christian Encarnacion-Strand homers in Cincinnati Reds win vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
GOODYEAR, Arizona − The Cincinnati Reds (7-6-1) outlasted the Arizona Diamondbacks (6-8-1) on Saturday in a high-scoring, 9-8 win played before a Goodyear Ballpark sellout crowd of 10,311.
Cincinnati Reds use nine pitchers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
Nick Lodolo, the Reds’ originally-scheduled starter on Saturday, ended up getting his day’s work in on a backfield at the Reds’ Player Development Complex. Reds manager Terry Francona said after the game Lodolo threw 63 pitches.
About a mile away at Goodyear Ballpark, Cincinnati opted to go with a bullpen game, and by “bullpen game,” that meant a new pitcher each inning.
Bryan Shaw threw the Reds’ only scoreless and hitless frame on the day. Lyon Richardson, Taylor Rogers, Joe LaSorsa and Lenny Torres allowed at least one hit apiece but kept the Diamondbacks off the scoreboard.
Francona also deployed Ian Gibaut (one run allowed), Alex Young (four runs via a grand slam), Sam Moll (one run) and Luis Mey (a two-run homer) for an inning apiece.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Austin Hays key Reds’ big fourth inning
The Reds batted around in the fourth inning and plated five runs to take a 6-1 lead.
The Reds’ onslaught started when Christian Encarnacion-Strand pumped a two-run homer into the grass berm in left field. That followed Jake Fraley’s leadoff hit-by-pitch.
Hitting from the right side of the plate, Elly De La Cruz singled to drive in a run. Then, Austin Hays singled up the middle to drive in two more runs.
Hays went 2-for-3 at the plate after Reds’ manager Terry Francona heaped praise on him during his morning meeting with reporters. So far, it looks like the offseason move to bring Hays in is working out.
Cincinnati would later go ahead for good in the sixth inning. The Reds sent eight batters to the plate and, aided by three walks and a hit-by-pitch, tacked on three runs to go back in front, 9-6.
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Eugenio Suarez still has plenty of power
Eugenio Suarez, the former Reds slugger, made life difficult for his former club on Saturday. He struck out in both of his first two at-bats but in the top of the fifth inning lined a grand slam to left field in front of a packed, bipartisan Goodyear Ballpark. That cut the Reds’ lead to 6-5.
Stat of the day, courtesy of Terry Francona
According to the Reds’ skipper, Cincinnati batters ran 15 full counts and reached base in 10 of those plate appearances. Needless to say, Francona was very happy with that.
“That was really good to say,” Francona said.
Next up for the Reds: A trip to Tempe to face the Los Angeles Angels
Cincinnati will head east from Goodyear on Sunday to face the Los Angeles Angels at Tempe-Diablo Stadium (4:10 p.m. ET; Radio: 700WLW). The Reds’ Graham Ashcraft is scheduled to face Jack Kochanowicz. Presumptive Reds closer Alexis Diaz is scheduled to pitch, which would mark his debut appearance this spring. RH Graham Ashcraft vs. RH Jack Kochanowicz.
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.”
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