Forget the anomaly that was Friday’s low-scoring game.

In May [url=http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/quintin-demps-jersey]http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/quintin-demps-jersey[/url] , the Arizona Diamondbacks averaged 2.9 runs per game, fewest in the major leagues. So far in June, however, they are averaging 6.5 runs, including 37 in five games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Diamondbacks (42-33) and Pirates (36-39) play the third game of a four-game series Saturday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh after Arizona’s 2-1, 13-inning win Friday.

The Diamondbacks this month have 178 hits, nine triples, 81 walks and 32 homers.

A couple of players — leadoff batter Jon Jay and Paul Goldschmidt — seem to have sparked Arizona’s offense.

Jay has multiple hits in seven of his 14 games since he was acquired by trade June 6 from Kansas City. He has reached base in all but one game and reached base twice in eight games. He has scored 16 runs with eight RBIs.

“He’s come in and he’s been unbelievable for us at the top of the lineup,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen told the Arizona Republic. “Almost every day he’s getting on base a couple of times and he’s just sparking us in so many different ways. He’s giving us professional at-bats. That’s something that we weren’t putting together consistently during that rut in May, which we’ve come around to doing now. It’s all sort of adding back up together again.”

Don’t look for Jay to cough up any secrets.

“I’m just trying to go out there and be myself,” he told MLB.com. “I just try to keep it simple. We’ve got a great core group of guys here. I’m just trying to be a complement to the group we have already.”

Goldschmidt is batting .475 with six doubles [url=http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/ezekiel-elliott-jersey]http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/ezekiel-elliott-jersey[/url] , a triple, eight home runs and 20 RBIs in his past 16 games.

The Diamondbacks got caught in a pitchers’ duel Friday but won their second straight game and third in their past four. They have won six of seven on the road.

Pittsburgh has lost three straight and four of five.

On Saturday, Pittsburgh right-hander Joe Musgrove (2-2, 3.68 ERA) is scheduled to face Diamondbacks righty Zack Greinke (6-5, 3.90).

Musgrove will be making is sixth start since beginning the season on the disabled list. He was dynamic out of the gate but was flat in his most recent outing, an 8-6 loss Sunday against Cincinnati when he gave up six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, with six strikeouts and one walk.

“I felt OK. That’s my first day game in a while. Just trying to get my body alert,” Musgrove said. “It was hot out there. I felt drained. But that’s something I’m aware of now, and that’s something I’ll try to prepare for.”

Saturday’s game also is a day game, although with a late-afternoon start.

“I don’t feel like I’m lost right now. I still feel really good,” Musgrove said.”

Musgrove is 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career appearances [url=http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/jordan-wilkins-jersey]http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/jordan-wilkins-jersey[/url] , including one start, against Arizona. That start was June 11 when the first five of his six-plus innings were scoreless in what became a no-decision. He ended up allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits in six innings.

Greinke has won three of his past four starts. He is 7-4 with a 4.91 ERA in 12 career starts against Pittsburgh. In his one start against the Pirates this season, Greinke gave up five runs on five hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. He took the loss in that June 13 game, which ended with a 5-4 Pirates victory.

During his first stint in Seattle, Tod Leiweke helped develop the Seattle Seahawks into a benchmark franchise.

He’s returning to the Northwest this time with a chance to build a franchise from scratch – pending NHL approval.

Leiweke was introduced Wednesday as the CEO and president of the prospective NHL expansion franchise seeking to call Seattle home beginning with the 2020 season. The announcement has been expected since Leiweke announced he was stepping down from his role with the NFL earlier this year. But it was another step forward for the expansion bid.

”It’s kind of fun to start from scratch because you can build a culture the way you would want a culture to be built with likeminded people who want to serve, who love the game of hockey. In this, it is a grand opportunity,” Leiweke said.

The prospective majority owner of the franchise, David Bonderman, said he believed there could be a possible conditional announcement about the franchise from the NHL in June and a potential formal announcement in September coinciding with upcoming NHL Board of Governors meetings.

”We hope there is not any doubt about it and it’s certainly not just a formality. However, there is a process with the NHL and we expect to play through that process [url=http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/eric-ebron-jersey]Eric Ebron Jersey[/url] ,” Bonderman said.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, speaking before the playoff opener in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, wasn’t as optimistic, saying there is no set timeline for a decision on Seattle’s expansion bid.

”We don’t have a timetable,” Bettman said. ”That would be nothing more than speculation. I would be surprised.”

While announcing the president and CEO for a team that doesn’t exist yet might seem a bit presumptuous, Leiweke brings the kind of clout that will only strengthen a bid that almost appears to be a foregone conclusion.

Oak View Group, a partner in the franchise and the group responsible for renovating KeyArena, is expected to begin construction on the building later this fall and have the remodel done for the 2020 season. The season-ticket drive that started on March 1 was a rousing success and was capped at 33,000 deposits.

Leiweke got his start in hockey with the Minnesota Wild. He also worked in Vancouver and most recently helped build Tampa Bay into a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference. Leiweke left the Lightning in 2015 to become the COO of the NFL and didn’t have any interest in leaving the league office until the project in Seattle began to gain real traction.

”The fact is I found the NFL to be a pretty amazing and fascinating place to work and I was starting to get quite comfortable in my role there so I wasn’t looking,” Leiweke said. ”But I think the stars aligned and my son’s advice was, `Dad [url=http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/aaron-lynch-jersey]Aaron Lynch Jersey[/url] , how can you not do this?’ Today, I think he’s right.”

Leiweke’s job will be to capitalize on a market whose demographics have changed significantly since he left the Seahawks in 2010 after being largely responsible for the team hiring head coach Pete Carroll. Seattle is the largest market in the country without a winter pro sports franchise and has seen an influx of wealth in recent years. Even when he was running the Seahawks, Leiweke believed Seattle was ripe for the NHL and the response to the season-ticket drive only strengthened that belief.

”It really is a great fit. I always thought this could be a great hockey market and it proved it. So far, so good,” Leiweke said. ”Now it’s on us because I think people are going to show up opening day ready to believe and what are we going to put out there? Does it all connect?”

Leiweke’s hiring also reunites him with his brother, Tim, the CEO of Oak View Group, which created the privately funded deal to finally solve Seattle’s arena issue.

”I’m so in awe of what we did here,” Tod Leiweke said. ”This has been a challenging issue and my brother came in here and figured it out.”

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