The Diamondbacks wasted a strong night from their pitching staff and came away with a 4-2 loss to the Marlins.
Michael Soroka set the tone on the mound, working 5 innings and allowing just 1 earned run while striking out 6. The bullpen backed him up with 5 scoreless innings, giving Arizona a staff line that should have been good enough to win. Instead, the offense never found a second gear after the opening inning.
Gabi Moreno supplied the only early spark with a solo home run in the first. After that, the Diamondbacks were stuck for the rest of regulation and into the 10th and 11th innings, unable to do damage against a Marlins pitching staff that the source described as very mediocre. Arizona finished 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
There were also a few odd moments in the game, including a blocking-the-plate play that Torey Lovullo said after the game is apparently completely legal if the infield is playing in. But the bigger issue was the same one that has been hanging over this team: the bats went quiet again when the pitching did more than enough to hold up its end.
A few individual lines stood out in the wrong way. Pavin Smith, who has been starting almost every night since being called back up, went 0-for-3.
Lars Nootbaar, despite being hot lately, finished 0-for-5 with 4 strikeouts. Jordan Lawlar also had a rough night, going 1-for-5 with 4 strikeouts, including an especially frustrating 11th-inning at-bat in which he saw fastballs over the middle and still went down.
The Diamondbacks will try to salvage the series win tomorrow night against the Marlins and hope for another Padres loss as well. Merrill Kelly is set to start, and with the offense in its current form, the margin for error is thin.
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