They say you gotta laugh to keep from crying. It’s getting harder to do.
Game Summary
The Diamondbacks lost their 3rd straight game and 8th in their last 9 games in an affair that was more than winnable if the Diamondbacks had any sort of “little things right” in them. Tonight’s loss can’t be blamed solely on the bullpen. It was a thorough team loss. The starting pitching wasn’t good. The late-game hitting wasn’t good. The defense wasn’t good (again). It took a team effort to lose this game tonight and that’s what they did.
Merrill’s start was cut short after 5 inning and 6 runs scored, but Ketel Marte’s costly error in the first inning set this game off on a wacky trajectory that sapped Merrill of at least one inning and was directly responsible for 2 Nats’ runs. The Diamondbacks defensive miscues were also responsible for a run scoring on Jalen Beeks in the 7th, when he gave up a high pop fly to the warning track in left center field, but Lourdes Gurriel looked like he took a bad route AND like he couldn’t run faster than a slow jog which led to the ball bouncing off the warning track and into the stands for a leadoff double. That run would later come around to score the Nationals’ 9th run of the game on a single through a drawn in infield. Three runs that can be directly blamed on the lack of passable defense, and it’s only by the grace of God that it wasn’t a fourth run when Josh Naylor and Ryan Thompson allowed the leadoff batter to reach on a “single” when they ran into each other trying to race to the bag.
Now I will preface this next part by saying 7 runs is a good night at the ballpark and should be enough to win a ballgame, but if you’re going to give them 3 runs with your poor defense, scoring 7 runs isn’t as much of a clear path to victory. The first and third innings were filled with good, old fashioned Diamondbacks baseball where we strung hits together and kept handing the bat off to the next man in line. But after the third inning, that all came to a screeching halt. Thanks to those big innings early, the D-backs were able to chase the Nats’ starter after 5 innings and get into that bullpen (the only bullpen in the NL with a lower ERA than ours). Old friend Andrew Chafin pitched the 6th and was able to strand a 1-out double. Then the leadoff man reached in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings via walk or HBP, and only Corbin (thanks to him stealing second on his own before he could be sabotaged by one of the men behind him) would come around to score with 2 outs in the 9th. If our defense is going to be this bad, our offense has to be better than that.
Even though the bullpen took over in a tie game and gave up 3 runs, I don’t blame them for the loss at all. Morillo pitched the sixth and gave up 2, but if Merrill’s pitch count didn’t get blown up in the 1st, Morillo likely wouldn’t have been on the mound in the 6th. Beeks was charged with an earned run, but he was a clear victim of poor defense. The bullpen has been plenty bad, but they’re not to blame for tonight’s outcome. Tonight, I blame the other 8 men.
Loss Probability and Box Score
Outside the Box Score
- The defensive mishaps continued to rear their heads at the beginning of this game. With 2 outs and 15 pitches, Merrill Kelly got an easy ground ball to Domo who paused for a moment before deciding to go the short way to Ketel Marte covering second base. The flip was perfectly in stride and on target, but Ketel let it clank off his glove and inning continued. 19 pitches later, the second out was finally recorded, but 2 Washington runs were across.
- That third out in the top of the first wasn’t a gimme either. Geno Suarez got a routine grounder and spiked the throw across the diamond, but thankfully, Naylor made the scoop and recorded the out.
- Corbin Carroll’s batting average has been on a precipitous decline over the last couple weeks, but he was able to get a lucky base hit when he got a check swing double down the third base line.
- Josh Naylor with 2 pretty defensive plays now through the first 2 innings. Naylor made a diving stab on a hard grounder down the line and was able to recover and flip to a sprinting Merrill Kelly for the second out of the inning.
- Merrill could blame his first inning troubles on defensive miscues, but the third inning was all on him. First four hitters all reached and scored courtesy a pair of 400+ foot homers, a walk and a single. Merrill limited the damage after that, but his pitch count continued to climb at an alarming rate, finishing the third with 73 pitches and his second 2-run deficit of the evening.
- The Answerbacks returned in the bottom of the third, tying up the score at 6 runs apiece through 3, but the good guys nearly had their 2-run lead back through 3 innings if not for some home run robbery by the Nationals right fielder. Gabi Moreno scorched a flyable to deep right field with a runner on, but Daylen Lile made an awkward but effective backwards leap into the fence and brought the ball back into play for the third out of the inning.
- Juan Morillo was the first call to the bullpen in this one was Juan Morillo, and it went as well as the rest of our bullpen outings have gone recently. Morillo found himself in a bases loaded jam without allowing a hit. Three walks around a groundout and strikeout led to Nathaniel Lowe coming up and delivering a ringing single to score 2. The Nats TOOTBLANd into their 3rd out on the play after the first 2 runs scored or this inning might’ve got even uglier.
- Jalen Beeks was the next man up out of the pen and the first batter he faced (a lefty) drilled a ball to the warning track in left center, but it was hanging up long enough that it should’ve been caught. Gurriel took a pretty terrible route to the ball and tried to correct but it was too late and the ball ended up bouncing over the wall for a ground rule double. That runner would eventually come around to score and add a third run of insurance for the Nats.
- Geno Suarez came up with 1 out and runners on the corners in the 7th. Swinging at the first pitch, he poked a jam shot to the 2nd baseman who tagged out Naylor himself then threw on to first to complete the double play and end the briefly lived scoring threat.
- The third bullpen arm to enter this game for the Diamondbacks was Ryan Thompson. He was met with the now all-too-familiar defensive buffoonery, as well. He got a swinging bunt down to first base which Naylor fielded cleanly and Thompson was in position at first to receive a toss but Naylor decided to take it himself and – no I’m not making this up – ran into Ryan Thompson, preventing him from reaching first base and recording an easy out! Thompson was at least able to strand his runner, but the defensive slippage on display in this game is galling.
- The late-game gaffes didn’t belong solely to the defensive side of the ball. In the 7th and 8th innings, the Diamondbacks got leadoff walks, cardinal sins for pitchers that typically lead to good things for the side who earns them. Both leadoff runners did get into scoring position eventually in their inning, but neither would score.
Player of the Game
Slim pickings tonight, so I’ll just go with the man who happened to lead the team in WPA tonight (also the only one who didn’t play any defense tonight), Pavin Smith. He started off 2-for-2 with both hits on breaking balls against a tough starter in Jake Irvin, but his late performance lessened the shine of his early impact. Still, hopefully this gives Pavin some confidence against these breaking pitches that have been bedeviling him for most of this season.
Comment of the Game
A total of 323 comments in the GDT at time of publishing. This comment didn’t end up with the most Recs on the night, but I feel it was the best descriptor of this game:
Coming Up
The D-backs face the Nationals in the second game of this series tomorrow at 7:10pm Arizona time. Brandon Pfaadt will be on the bump in our bid to snap this 3 game skid, and he will be opposed by righty Michael Soroka who is 1-3 with a 5.61 ERA.