D-backs Bullpen Cannot Seal the Deal in Loss to the Mets

In front of a packed house of 41,670 fans, the Diamondbacks were unable to overcome a poor outing by the bullpen in an 8-5 loss to the New York Mets. Entering a tie game, three Arizona relievers combined to allow four runs in the final three innings.

Arizona's bullpen entered play with an ERA of 3.90 over the past 30 days, which ranked 10th in baseball. Miguel Castro, who had thrown seven straight scoreless outings, gave up a go-ahead two-run homer to Francisco Alvarez in the seventh. Austin Adams and José Ruiz each gave up a run, which allowed the Mets to build an 8-4 lead entering the bottom of the ninth. It proved to be enough of a cushion for the Mets to withstand a two-out rally, that saw the potential winning run step up to the plate.

"I felt like in a three-inning race, we were in a good spot to close it out and put up some runs to win a baseball game with a bullpen that was fully loaded" said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo. "It just didn't happen that way."

Zach Davies delivered a serviceable start, holding the Mets to four runs on five hits, two walks, and six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He got clipped for a pair of home runs, a three-run shot by Starling Marte in the fourth and a solo homer by Brandon Nimmo in the fifth.

"For me, it came down to two pitches" said Davies. "Looking back on it, two decent pitches that they got to. Overall I felt good, I felt like I kept the momentum going from the Tampa game and unfortunately didn't come out with a win today".

Looking back on both home runs, he said he should have done a better job of changing speeds and eye levels in both at-bats.

"I talked to Carson [Kelly], I said 'I threw my best changeup there' on 1-1 to get to 1-2. Threw another good one, it wasn't a strike, but it was in towards his bat path. A different eye level, a different speed, that gets him off the changeup a little bit and maybe a different result if I throw that 2-2 instead of 1-2 after a good one. With Nimmo, same thing. It was just hard, hard, hard the whole time. Trying to go in, he was late on the previous pitch, and so he's thinking the same thing. He's not going to be late on the next one. Throwing it up and in to him, right into his bat path again. Change speeds, change eye level a little bit, go down in the zone and then try to go back up."

With the loss, Arizona is now 0-5 at Chase Field when the attendance is more than 32,000. Part of that has to do with the quality of the opponent, as they've taken on the Braves, Guardians, and Dodgers in the previous four highly attended games. Lovullo downplayed any possible connection.

"I don't see any connection, because there's such an energy to this stadium and I've always felt when it's as full as it was today that the noise and the excitement and the vibe is pretty special."

The D-backs had some exciting moments where the crowd got into it. All-Stars Corbin Carroll and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. both got opportunities with the bases loaded to put their mark on the game. Facing Max Scherzer, Carroll worked an eight-pitch walk that tied the game 4-4.

"We talk about swinging at strikes, identifying pitches in the zone, get ready to slug" said Lovullo. "I think he was looking to do damage, and just fouled a couple balls back. I thought he did a great job, it was a great at-bat. When you can put the bat down and hand it to the next guy and give an opportunity to win the game or put us ahead, that's fine. I thought Corbin's at-bats today were fantastic, it's good to have him back in the lineup."

In his first start since Thursday, Carroll finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run, the walk, and a single that brought the potential tying run to the plate in the ninth. He might have had another extra base hit had Mets first baseman Pete Alonso not made a diving play on hard-hit grounder down the line in the fourth.

The loss puts Arizona at 50-36, and just 1.5 games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League West division lead. They'll move on quickly tomorrow to try to turn the series around, as they send left-hander Tommy Henry to the mound to face right-hander Kodai Senga in the second game of this midweek series against the Mets. First pitch at Chase Field will be at 6:40 PM MST, 9:40 PM ET.