Costly errors, missed challenges, and a late-inning baserunning blunder left Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo fuming as his team squandered scoring opportunities in a one-run loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Arizona Diamondbacks had every chance in the world to take down the St. Louis Cardinals, but ultimately, they lost 5-4.
Star second baseman Ketel Marte went 1-for-5 on the night, but his puzzling strikeout to end the game had everyone confused. For whatever reason, even with both challenges remaining, Marte refused to challenge the strike call and just let the game end.
Only three of the Cardinals five runs were earned, and two scored in the first thanks to an error against Marte.
Obviously, this loss wasn't just on him. Manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com after the game, "I'm pretty p*****," and for good reason.
Diamondbacks 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position
Arizona finished the game with only one fewer hit than the Cardinals, but that clearly made a big difference. Both Marte and Nolan Arenado were 0-for-2 with RISP while five other players failed to get a hit. In total, the Diamondbacks left six runners on base.
Paul Sewald struggled big time
Paul Sewald, 36, is the team's closer and hasn't struggled much these past few months. He only has one blown save, and that came back on Wednesday, May 13, when he started the year 0-4. He's improved to 2-4 since then, but picked up his fifth loss against the Cardinals.
After racking up 13 saves since his last loss, Sewald couldn't handle a grounder back to the mound in the ninth. In a 4-4 game, the Cardinals took full advantage and drove in the fifth run, one that proved to be the deciding factor in this game's outcome.
Jorge Barrosa was picked off in the ninth
Jorge Barrosa came in the game as a pinch runner, but Cardinals closer Riley O'Brien picked him off at first base. That simply can't happen, especially for someone who's sole job is to run the bases. Lovullo was beyond upset, and he had every right to be, especially with how Marte's at-bat would play out a few moments later.
Lovullo expresses his frustrations
"That's not D-backs baseball. So, especially coming off of the type of baseball that we were playing, and you guys sat here and asked me, 'Are we ready?' And I told you we were. I think we were, but we just lost a little bit of our focus at the most critical times, and that's not what I like," he said.
Lovullo added, "There are 15 other things that happened in this game that are still eating at me right now, and we will address them one by one as a coaching staff, and we will address them one by one with the players, so we get better and learn from it.
"That's what we do. We coach until they learn, and we execute on the level that I anticipate and what is our standard. We didn't get there today."
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