The Arizona Diamondbacks had a chance to keep Friday night alive against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Ketel Marte let it slip away in a way that left plenty of questions behind.
Down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, Arizona had the tying run at second base with two outs. Marte was in the box against Cardinals closer Riley O'Brien, working a 2-2 count. O'Brien fired a pitch up in the zone - at least according to the on-screen strike box, which showed it above the strike zone - and the home-plate umpire called Marte out looking.
That should not have been the end of it.
The Diamondbacks still had both of their challenges available, and the graphic suggested Marte would have had a strong case if he had chosen to use one. A successful challenge would have given him another pitch. Instead, he walked away and the game was over.
For whatever reason, he didn't.
The moment carried extra weight because it came right after the All-Star Break, with Arizona trying to grab some momentum. It also came with O'Brien fresh off a rough moment in the All-Star Game, when he hit Rays star Junior Caminero on the hand and knocked him out of the game with an injury described as not too bad.
For St. Louis, it was a big finish.
For Arizona, it ended with Marte walking off and shaking his head a bit, and with the final pitch making the loss sting even more. It wasn't clear whether he realized a challenge could have changed the ending, but either way, the Diamondbacks were left with a painful missed opportunity.
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