With the Wild Card race tightening and less than three weeks left in the regular season, the D-backs are getting a timely lift from the one area that can swing a September push in a hurry: the bullpen.
Arizona’s relief group has been rolling since Aug. 30, putting together an NL-best 2.68 ERA over 43 2/3 innings entering Thursday. Before that stretch, the number was 4.15, which ranked 18th in the Majors through Aug.
- That kind of turnaround is already showing up in the results.
The bullpen helped slam the door on the Astros on Sunday, then followed that with nine scoreless innings against the Royals on Monday.
That kind of late-season surge has a familiar feel in Arizona. The D-backs’ relievers were a big reason the club made its run to the NL pennant in 2023, too.
They entered September that year with a 25th-ranked 4.69 ERA, then caught fire in the final month and posted a 2.16 ERA, second only to the Dodgers. The timing feels awfully similar now, and the big question is whether this version of the bullpen can keep it going all the way through October.
A lot of that starts with how Arizona has handled the back end since moving on from Paul Sewald. His 6.23 ERA over 45 appearances made the need for change pretty clear, and so far the response has been strong.
Since Sewald’s DFA, D-backs relievers have posted a 2.42 ERA in the ninth inning or later, good for 10th in MLB entering play on Friday. Opponents are hitting just .140 against Arizona’s bullpen in the ninth or later in that span, which ranked No. 1 in MLB entering Thursday.
Brandyn Garcia, Kevin Ginkel, Jonathan Loáisiga and Justin Martinez have combined to allow only one unearned run over 13 innings in the ninth or later since the D-backs parted ways with Sewald. If Torey Lovullo keeps mixing and matching based on leverage, and the group keeps producing, Arizona suddenly looks a lot more dangerous down the stretch.
There’s also real production coming from several arms who have been carrying big workloads all year. Garcia is finishing a strong rookie season after debuting with the Mariners in 2025, and he’s been one of the best stories in the D-backs’ bullpen. He has a 2.08 ERA in 51 appearances, has struck out 32.3 percent of the batters he’s faced, and has been especially nasty at Chase Field, where he owns a 0.41 ERA in 25 appearances.
Taylor Clarke has done it a different way, but the results have been just as valuable. His 2.45 ERA in 64 appearances is a career best, even though the underlying swing-and-miss numbers aren’t eye-popping.
His 21.6 percent whiff rate sits in the 21st percentile among qualified pitchers, and his 15.9 percent strikeout rate is in the 7th percentile. But he’s keeping the ball on the ground at a 48.5 percent clip and limiting hard contact to 31.6 percent, and that formula has worked.
Juan Morillo has also taken a clear step forward in his second Major League season. After logging a 4.19 ERA in 42 appearances for the D-backs in 2025, the right-hander has trimmed that to 2.33 across 62 appearances this season.
He’s been trusted in high-leverage spots and at the back end of games, and since the All-Star break he’s been even sharper, posting a 1.31 ERA. His most recent outing was a rough one, though, as he allowed two runs and blew a save against Kansas City.
Then there’s Martinez, who may end up being the wild card inside the bullpen itself. The 25-year-old didn’t make his season debut until Aug. 18 after recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, and he hasn’t allowed an earned run in his first seven appearances back.
The command has been shaky - he has walked five in 6 2/3 innings - but the raw stuff is still there. With a triple-digit fastball and a splitter/slider mix, Martinez has the kind of weapons that can matter in October if the control tightens up.
For Arizona, the formula is simple: if this bullpen keeps dealing like this, the D-backs have a real shot to make their late push count.
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