The Arizona Diamondbacks' loss to the Miami Marlins on Wednesday demonstrates more struggles at the wrong time.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are squandering a critical homestand that very well could decide if they have a postseason or not.
With a 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins on Wednesday at Chase Field in Phoenix, the Diamondbacks have now dropped their second consecutive series at home. Let’s get into why they lost Wednesday’s game and the implications of it.
Falling behind early
In Arizona’s extra-innings loss to Miami on Tuesday, the offense only mustered two runs. The Diamondbacks’ success has been predicated on strong offensive performances, so when they fell behind by multiple runs early in Wednesday’s contest, there was already a lot of work to do.
Unfortunately, they did not have it in them.
After a scoreless first inning, Diamondbacks starting right-hander Merrill Kelly gave up a leadoff double in the top of the second inning to Jakob Marsee, and Marsee immediately put pressure on him by stealing third base.
Kelly followed up by walking Xavier Edwards, and Edwards also took an aggressive approach on the basepaths by stealing second base. With runners in scoring position, Kelly notched his first strikeout of the evening and forced another out, but Heriberto Hernandez made him pay with a two-RBI single.
Arizona responded in the bottom of the second when Pavin Smith hit a solo home run, but it did not matter much, as the Marlins had an immediate response.
In the top of the third, Kelly opened the inning with another strikeout before giving up a single that was followed by a two-run home run off the bat of Jakob Marsee. At that point, Miami owned a 4-1 lead, and that is enough of a cushion to bury the Diamondbacks.
Kelly’s outing eventually ended in the fifth inning, and while he was able to log a season-high nine strikeouts, the three runs, seven hits and two walks he gave up erased the good he did.
The Diamondbacks’ offense also tried to respond, as Gabriel Moreno hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth, and Nolan Arenado followed up with one of his own in the bottom of the eighth. However, it was not enough.
The implications
Simply put, this is bad for the Diamondbacks.
Going into this homestand, Arizona trailed the San Diego Padres for third place in the National League Wild Card standings. The gap was not large, and the Diamondbacks had nine games in their house to look forward to, with the first two opponents they hosted being average at best.
Instead, Arizona dropped its first series to the Texas Rangers, a team that looked more desperate to reach the playoffs, and now to the Marlins. Coming up, the Diamondbacks will host the New York Yankees on Friday to kick off their final series of the regular season at home.
Right now, this version of Arizona does not look like a club that will beat New York, either. Heading into Thursday’s slate of games across Major League Baseball, the Diamondbacks trail the Padres by 3.5 games for that third spot in the Wild Card race.
Moreover, the Diamondbacks will conclude their season against San Diego at the end of the month, a series that seemed like it would decide the fate of these two teams. But if the Diamondbacks keep losing, it will not matter.
