Photo by Navy Yard Nats for TalkNats
It was seven years ago when Patrick Corbin made his debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he was an All-Star in his first full season there a year later. He became one of the best pitchers in baseball while pitching in the Wild West of the NL West which included notorious hitter’s parks like his old home field in Arizona and Colorado’s Coors Field. If last night’s 25-runs scored proved anything, it is that baseballs sitting pre-game in a humidor still fly in Chase Field.
As a free agent in the offseason, Corbin signed the most lucrative deal for a pitcher with the Washington Nationals. The signing brought Corbin back east where he wanted to be in closer proximity to family. For the first time ever, he returns to Chase Field as a visitor, and he will face the righty Taylor Clarke who is the kid from the Washington, D.C. suburbs who grew up as a Nats fan. Clarke did pitch at Nats Park back in June in that Diamondbacks series which was a lifelong dream.
For Clarke, he starred at Broad Run High School in Loudoun County, Virginia. Clarke was 11-years-old when the Nationals came into existence. Ten years later, he was a 3rd round draft pick by the D’Backs in 2015. Clarke went to Towson University in Maryland out of High School and when they looked to close their baseball program he finished up at the College of Charleston.
“My dream finally came true after all these years, ever since T-ball,” Clarke said. “It’s surreal that it finally came to fruition.”
Originally, Merrill Kelly was scheduled to start today, but the Diamondbacks reseeded their entire rotation after a few trades brought in Mike Leake and Zac Gallen while sending Zack Greinke to Houston. For now, Clarke remains in a rotation that seems to have six starters, and he has been struggling to a 5.53 ERA.
For those who know Clarke, they have seen him overcome a lot of adversity. He was born with partial facial paralysis, and has endured arm injuries including a torn UCL that required Tommy John surgery — yet, here he is with Arizona going through another rebuilding process he will get at least one more chance today. When he faced the Nats before, they got him for 3-runs in the first inning. The Nats got plenty of hits off of Clarke, and two of them were solo home runs by Matt Adams and Juan Soto.
Washington Nationals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
Stadium: Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
1st Pitch: 4:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, FOX Sports Arizona, MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
