The Diamondbacks came home to Phoenix needing to keep pace in the race for October, but instead they left the weekend with a split-series gut punch and a bigger gap to close. After dropping the rubber match to the Rangers, the D-backs are now 2.5 games back, and with the Padres having swept the Giants, the margin is getting tighter by the day.
Saturday had at least given Arizona a burst of life. The offense, which had been mostly quiet for the past week or so, finally showed some punch in a 9-run outing.
The D-backs went 4 for 6 with runners in scoring position and kept pressing even after building a 4-1 lead through five innings. It was the kind of night that made you think the bats might be turning a corner.
But the bigger question hanging over this team is why that kind of production keeps showing up in one big lump instead of being spread across nine innings. Brandon and I talked about that after the game: it’s good to see the breakout, but it’s hard to ignore how often this lineup looks flat for long stretches before suddenly waking up. At some point, that has to be answered by the hitters themselves, or by the game plans Joe Mather and the assistant hitting coaches are putting in front of them every night.
Saturday’s lead came together quickly. Tim Tawa opened the scoring with a triple, and Pavin Smith followed with an RBI single in the second inning.
From there, Brandon Pfaadt looked in control for four innings and seemed on track for a strong finish. Then came the fifth, and with it, the turn in the game.
The Rangers exploded for six runs in that inning, and the sequence that sparked the rally became the night’s biggest controversy. Corey Seager was called safe at first after Pfaadt’s foot came off the bag, and Torey Lovullo challenged the call.
The replay shown to fans made it look like Pfaadt’s heel was still on the bag, but New York said there wasn’t enough to overturn it. Seager stayed safe, and what could have been a 2-1 game instead turned into a Rangers surge with two outs that produced four more runs.
That was the moment the game slipped away. With the way the offense had been going, falling behind by that much felt like too much to overcome, and Arizona never really recovered.
Sunday brought another chance, this time with Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound and a series win on the line. Instead, Corey Seager struck again, helping Texas jump out to an early 2-0 lead. Rodriguez settled in after that, and Gabriel Moreno answered with a solo homer to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into the fifth.
Then the defense cracked at the worst possible time. Arizona committed two costly errors in that fifth inning, including a Nolan Arenado misplay on a grounder he makes almost every time and a Lars Nootbar decision that left a line drive hanging in limbo. The result was a disastrous inning that led to three unearned runs on Eduardo’s line and ultimately decided the game.
Brandon and I agreed those mistakes were the difference in a one-run loss that the Diamondbacks simply could not afford. In a game this important, those are the kinds of plays that can’t happen if this team expects to catch and pass the Padres.
Now the D-backs move on to a three-game series against the Marlins, who just took 2 of 3 from the Dodgers and swept Arizona earlier this year in Miami. The Diamondbacks haven’t had a series sweep in more than a month, and with the Padres winning seven straight, the urgency is obvious. Anything less than taking care of business against Miami could leave Arizona in a hole it may not climb out of.
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The concern around Rodriguez is only part of a broader conversation about the roster, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. sits squarely in it. After signing a three-year deal, Gurriels production has slipped enough to turn his contract into one of the more uncomfortable evaluations on the roster, especially for a club trying to make its numbers and its expectations line up. [Read more 🡒]