The Diamondbacks are squeezed into a stretch GM Mike Hazen has openly called the toughest of their season — no days off, and a wild-card race so tight that a half-game separates them from the Padres. That's the backdrop for every one of these games right now, and it's why a series against a last-place team still carries real stakes for Arizona.
Colorado, meanwhile, is doing Colorado things. The Rockies are buried at 46-72, a year removed from a historically bad 119-loss season, and this current stretch hasn't offered much reason for optimism — they've dropped 4 of their last 5 and are getting outscored in the process. Hughes has shown swing-and-miss stuff in flashes, including a 7-strikeout effort last time out, but the results haven't followed; a winless record for a guy with real strikeout numbers says as much about the offense and bullpen behind him as it does about him.
Arizona's lineup is banged up on the corners — Jordan Lawlar and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. are both still working back from injury, and Merrill Kelly's a question mark after leaving his last start early. That's put more pressure on the healthy bats to carry the load, and they've answered lately, taking 2 of the first 3 from the Dodgers in their last series.
None of Colorado's injury issues are going away either — their rotation is gutted, with Jose Quintana, Chase Dollander and McCade Brown all on extended shelf time, which is a big reason Hughes keeps getting sent out there in tough spots. Chase Field in August means triple-digit heat and a fast-playing ball, and neither pitcher figures to be economical with pitch counts tonight.
Bottom line: Arizona has the better arm, the better lineup, and a real reason to care about the final score. Colorado's just playing out the string in a lost season, and until that changes, this is a mismatch on paper that the Diamondbacks need to actually cash in.