The Diamondbacks had the opener in their hands, then let it slip away in the kind of game that turns every missed chance into a loud one. Arizona fell 3-2 in 10 innings to the Pirates, and the biggest number on the board was the one that kept haunting them all night: 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. One of those hits didn’t even drive in a run.
Max Kepler gave Arizona its best jolt, driving in both runs as the D-backs built a 2-0 lead. But the offense stalled after that, and Pittsburgh kept hanging around long enough to take advantage of a throwing error by Merrill Kelly, a tying run from Juan Morillo, and then a walk-off chance that ended with a ball clanked off the glove of Ildemaro Vargas.
Kelly, though, was a bright spot for Arizona. After finishing June with a 6.11 ERA, he has been much sharper since July began, and he kept that trend going here.
He allowed one unearned run over 5.2 innings, giving up four hits, all singles, while walking one and striking out six. He also hit Pirates rookie Esmerlyn Valdez around the wrist area, forcing Valdez out of the game in obvious discomfort.
For most of the night, Kelly and Pittsburgh starter M. Keller were locked in a tight, efficient duel.
Through five innings, each side had only moved one runner beyond first base. Arizona’s best early chance came in the second, when Kepler singled to open the inning, moved to third on two outs, and was left there.
Pittsburgh answered with a two-out single in the fifth, followed by a stolen base, but that runner was stranded too. Kelly even picked off a pinch-runner in the fourth after Valdez left the game.
Both starters were working fast. Keller needed just 63 pitches through five, while Kelly was at 67.
Kelly’s strikeout to end the fifth was especially sharp, with none of the six pitches in the zone and no contact on any of the batter’s three swings. Neither starter would survive the sixth, though.
Arizona finally broke through there. Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo opened the inning with singles, and Gabriel Moreno struck out looking after the Pirates catcher won an ABS challenge on two close pitches.
Ketel Marte then put the bases loaded with a softly hit ball that barely left the bat, but it still found grass. Kepler followed with a double that brought home two runs and gave the Diamondbacks the lead.
That was the high point. Marte was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a contact play off Tyler Locklear’s bat, and Adrian Del Castillo grounded out to end the inning.
The 2-0 edge didn’t last long. Kelly gave up a one-out single, then made a bad pickoff throw on his third attempt that skipped up the line toward right field, letting the runner reach third before scoring on the next hit.
A two-out walk ended Kelly’s night.
Morillo finished the sixth with Arizona still in front and then worked a scoreless seventh, but Jonathan Loaisiga couldn’t protect the lead. He allowed a pair of two-out doubles, with the Pirates manager getting ejected while arguing checked-swing calls, and the game was tied 2-2.
Arizona’s offense never really recovered after Kepler’s damage in the sixth. Ryan Waldschmidt doubled with one out in the inning and also made a strong play at the wall, while Ildemaro Vargas singled in the ninth and moved up on a balk.
That was the extent of the late pressure. Even with the automatic runner in second to start the 10th, the D-backs came up empty.
Carroll lined out at 103 mph, Perdomo should have been the second out but reached on a throwing error, and then Moreno took a called third strike. Kepler couldn’t do it again.
The loss leaves Arizona tied with Pittsburgh for the third wild-card spot. The Phillies also lost to the Marlins, and the Cardinals are losing to the Cubs, so the D-backs weren’t the only NL wild-card hopefuls to stumble against a rival.
In Other News...
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For Arizona, the real intrigue is what might have been asked for behind the scenes, especially with young bat Ryan Waldschmidt viewed as the sort of prospect another club would covet in a deal for a pitcher like Early. Whether he was ever truly in those conversations is less clear, but the fact that the Red Sox went another direction leaves the Diamondbacks with a small deadline win: they may have sidestepped a painful subtraction without having to test just how far Boston was willing to push them. [Read more 🡒]
Diamondbacks Just Got Pushed Back Into A Familiar Deadline Reality
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Geraldo Perdomo has also been speaking openly about the need for a pitching upgrade, which only adds to the sense that Arizona is weighing more than one path as it looks ahead. The club is still evaluating its options, and while there are other fronts to monitor, the rotation question has become hard to ignore. For a team trying to stay in the race, the next move may say as much about its belief in the present as it does about the deadline itself. [Read more 🡒]