The sputtering Arizona Diamondbacks are in need of a spark and hope a former Cy Young Award winner can ignite it.
Hoping to shake off a horrendous start to the season, Dallas Keuchel will make his Diamondbacks debut and try to help Arizona end a five-game losing streak in Sunday's series finale with the Detroit Tigers.
The 34-year-old left-hander signed a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks on June 6 following a desperate start to the season by the Chicago White Sox leading to his release.
The move to Arizona reunited him with pitching coach Brent Strom, who worked with Keuchel in 2015 when he won the AL Cy Young Award with the Houston Astros while going 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA.
The Diamondbacks are hopeful Keuchel can replicate the success he had with the Astros as opposed to the way he was knocked around with the White Sox over this season's first two months.
In eight starts for Chicago this season, Keuchel went 2-5 with a 7.88 ERA, permitting 49 hits and 20 walks in just 32 innings.
Among the 208 players with at least 30 innings pitched this season, Keuchel's 2.16 WHIP is the worst in the majors.
Prior to being called up by the Diamondbacks, he went 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts in the Arizona Complex League.
Diamondbacks give manager Torey Lovullo contract extension through 2024
The first-place Arizona Diamondbacks have given manager Torey Lovullo a contract extension through the 2024 season.
The deal, which was announced Sunday, is the third straight one-year extension for Lovullo.
A year after finishing in fourth place in the NL West and two years removed from a 110-loss season, the Diamondbacks enter play Sunday with a 35-24 mark to tie the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the league.
It’s the first time Arizona has 35 wins through 59 games since 2007, when the team won the NL West with a 90-72 record and reached the National League championship series.
With their 5-4 walkoff win over the Rockies today, the Diamondbacks ended a streak of 69 consecutive home series of four or more games without a sweep.
That was the longest such streak by an NL team since the Boston Braves (also 69, 1937-1946). pic.twitter.com/nOi9XpTlul
Villarreal 2-2 Atletico Madrid: Late Pascual leveller denies Simeone's 10 men second place
Atletico Madrid missed the chance to leapfrog Real Madrid and finish second in LaLiga on the final day of the season, as Jorge Pascual scored Villarreal's last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw.
Antoine Griezmann laid on two goals for Angel Correa after Nicolas Jackson put Villarreal ahead early on, but Axel Witsel's red card saw Diego Simeone's side come under mounting pressure, which told when Pascual converted two minutes into stoppage time.
That meant Atleti finished the season one point adrift of their city rivals in third, despite Los Blancos labouring to a 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
Pablo Barrios' error was punished as Villarreal went ahead after nine minutes, the teenager's miscued header teeing up Jackson for a powerful finish across goal.
Atleti levelled when Correa turned Griezmann's clever free-kick home nine minutes later, and the France international teed up Correa again with the latter rounding Filip Jorgensen to put the visitors 2-1 up after the break.
With Atleti seemingly heading for second place, Witsel was dismissed for fouling Giovani Lo Celso as the last man, and Villarreal made their numerical advantage count in the season's dying moments, Pascual converting a rebound to condemn Simeone's side to third.
Napoli 2-0 Sampdoria: Osimhen reaches half-century as Spalletti signs off with victory
Victor Osimhen reached another milestone as Napoli concluded their Scudetto-winning campaign with a 2-0 victory over Serie A's bottom side Sampdoria.
Osimhen sealed the Capocannoniere with his second-half penalty taking his tally for the Serie A campaign to 26 goals, while it was also his 50th overall in the competition.
Substitute Giovanni Simeone's wonderful individual effort secured victory as the Partonopei lifted the Serie A trophy at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where Luciano Spalletti was overseeing his final match in charge before taking a year-long sabbatical.
The Partenopei finished their memorable season on 90 points, their second-highest tally in Serie A – having collected one more under Maurizio Sarri five years ago.
Napoli created the first opportunity inside three minutes when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fed Piotr Zielinski, who fired over from a tight angle.
At the other end, two former Partenopei players almost combined to thwart their old club, but Fabio Quagliarella squandered a great opportunity by heading Manolo Gabbiadini's inviting cross wide from inside the six yard box.
Koray Gunter produced a wonderful last-ditch intervention to deny Eljif Elmas a clear sight on goal after Osimhen had neatly cushioned a lofted ball into his team-mate's path.
Sampdoria went close after the break when substitute Lorenzo Malagrida shot straight at Alex Meret, but the hosts broke through in the 64th minute.
After Nicola Murru brought him down in the penalty area, Osimhen picked himself up and confidently swept the spot-kick into the bottom-right corner.
Martin Turk denied Frank Anguissa and Gianluca Gaetano with smart reflex saves, but was helpless when Simeone arrowed a stunning 25-yard effort into the top corner to seal the points five minutes from time.
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