The Arizona Diamondbacks squandered a good opportunity with a loss against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
After barely overcoming the Miami Marlins to open their series against them, the Arizona Diamondbacks were not as fortunate on Tuesday as they fell to Miami, 4-2, in extra innings at Chase Field in Phoenix.
At this point in the season, every win and loss holds weight for Arizona. Let’s get into why the loss happened and its implications:
Defense holds firm
In the bottom of the first, the Diamondbacks got things going thanks to Gabriel Moreno.
With two outs, Moreno hit a solo home run to left-center field, marking his 14th homer of the season. However, that was the only run Arizona would get at this point and, given the mediocre state of this organization’s pitching this season, the Diamondbacks did a good enough job of protecting it as long as they could.
After two more scoreless innings, the Marlins broke through against right-hander Michael Soroka when Griffin Conine hit a solo shot to right-center field in the top of the fourth that tied the game.
Soroka remained in the game and pitched through the fifth inning before being replaced in the top of the sixth. He finished with six strikeouts, two hits, one earned run, and one walk over five innings. It was a good performance from one of Arizona’s more decent starters, but the one run allowed eventually came back to haunt the Diamondbacks.
After Soroka exited the game, manager Torey Lovullo brought in four relievers from the sixth through the 10th inning to keep the Marlins at bay, and they all did their jobs. The problem was, the offense could never break through.
Then, disaster struck.
Clarke’s downfall
In the top of the 11th inning, reliever Taylor Clarke replaced Kevin Ginkel on the mound for the Diamondbacks, and he opened the inning by securing an out before intentionally walking Kyle Stowers.
After earning a strikeout, Clarke just needed to secure one more out to get off the field. Instead, he gave up a walk and a punishing three-RBI double to Esteury Ruiz that put Arizona behind 4-1.
The Diamondbacks scored in the bottom of the 11th thanks to an RBI double by Ketel Marte, and in another world, that would have made for a second walk-off winner in as many nights by his team. Instead, they fell short.
Clarke is not the sole bearer of blame here. The offense needed to do more, and it didn’t.
The Diamondbacks went 9-for-42 at the plate with 14 strikeouts, a stat line that is simply unacceptable when they are scratching and clawing to keep their postseason hopes alive.
The implications
It was bad enough that the Diamondbacks squandered a game they could have had, and to make matters worse, they could have gained ground on the San Diego Padres.
The Padres occupy the third and final National League Wild Card spot that will make it to the postseason, and Arizona is trying to take it from them. Tuesday would have been a good start, as the struggling Colorado Rockies convincingly beat San Diego, 9-3.
With a win against Miami, the Diamondbacks could have shortened the gap between themselves and the Padres. Instead, they remain 2.5 games behind their NL West Division rivals.
