Diamondbacks Bullpen Thwarts Carroll's Two-Homer Night in Extras

The Arizona Diamondbacks lost a close contest to the Tampa Bay Rays at Chase Field on Wednesday, falling by a score of 7-6 in extra innings. Eduardo Rodríguez was excellent through six innings, but was bit by a tough seventh inning. Corbin Carroll hit two home runs.

Rodríguez began with a crisp 1-2-3 first inning. In the home half, Corbin Carroll sent his eighth home run of the season deep to right field for an early 1-0 Diamondbacks lead.

Rodríguez quickly gave that lead away, surrendering a home run to Christopher Morel to lead off the second. It was an off-speed pitch that landed well below the zone, but Morel scooped it to left for a line-drive homer.

Then, a double and RBI single off the southpaw gave the Rays a 2-1 lead. From there, Rodríguez buckled down into an excellent stretch, retiring nine in a row, and 15 of the next 16 until he ran into some trouble in the seventh inning.

The Rays got a bunt down, and Eugenio Suárez was unable to make the play. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then just missed running down a deep fly ball, resulting in a ground rule double. Rodríguez got a strikeout, then exited with two outs in the inning and his Quality Start on the line.

Unfortunately, Shelby Miller gave up a two-run single, charging both runs to Rodríguez and giving Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead before ending the inning.

In all, Rodríguez went 6.2 innings, allowing six hits, a walk and four runs and five strikeouts, but with a strong argument that he pitched better than his overall results, as has been the case frequently for the veteran left-hander.

"I felt like E-Rod had a much better day than the line score indicated," manager Torey Lovullo told reporters postgame. "He was attacking hitters, pitched deep into the game in a night where we didn't have every arm available, we were maybe a little gassed out in a couple situations."

But Carroll wasn't done with his night. Facing Rays left-hander Mason Montgomery, the star outfielder launched his second homer of the night, 430 feet to dead center at 108 MPH off the bat. The D-backs took a 5-4 lead heading into the eighth inning.

"That's hard to hit the ball out of the ballpark in that spot, left on left. I just think he's very selective and very stubborn to the pitch that he really wants to drive," Louvllo said.

"Having gone through something last year and grown up and matured and just checking off the balls that he can't drive. He knows what the strike zone is and he knows where the swing plane is and he knows where he's trying to impact the ball."

Right-hander Ryan Thompson then quickly gave up the lead, allowing a double, two singles and a fielder's choice for a 5-5 tie. However, with the bases loaded and no outs, Thompson retired three straight to strand the go-ahead runs.

Aside from the rest of the poor bullpen results, closer Justin Martinez got into his first game action in some time. The flamethrower had been dealing with "shoulder fatigue," and hadn't thrown since the Marlins series. He appeared to be in good health and spirits, tossing a 1-2-3 inning on 12 pitches to keep the game tied.

Outside of Carroll's huge night, Arizona's offense was a mixed bag.

Tim Tawa went 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI double. Geraldo Perdomo, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Eugenio Suárez and Alek Thomas each had a base hit, but the D-backs went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, and couldn't come away with the clutch hit late.

After going down in order to end the ninth, it was up to right-hander Juan Morillo, who managed a punchout and a lineout to Tawa at second, who stepped on the bag to double up Morel and end the inning.

Unfortunately, Arizona once again went down in order in the 10th, and Drey Jameson allowed a deep leadoff triple for the 6-5 Rays lead. He then allowed a walk and RBI double to give Tampa Bay some insurance.

The D-backs managed some drama in the 11th. Alek Thomas beat out an infield single and Taylor Walls threw the ball away to score a run. Then Tawa and Carroll both walked, but Perdomo grounded into an game-ending double play.

"I think tonight was a night of some missed opportunities," Lovullo said. "We had the right men in the right spot, just couldn't come up with a big hit to end this game. ... We did some heady things today, but I just think at the right time, with the right guys up, we couldn't cash in. That was the difference in the game.

"It was a frustrating game to lose, I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to sit here and try to sugarcoat it. We'll rebound and come out tomorrow and play a good game," the manager said.

Arizona will go for the series win in Thursday's rubber match at 6:40 p.m.