Ryan Jeffers and the Twins Bury D-backs 12-1

Only two good things happened for the Diamondbacks tonight against the Twins. The first was when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered again in the second inning off of Twins starter Kenta Maeda, spotting Ryne Nelson a 1-0 lead. The second was when Paul Sewald finally made his Diamondbacks debut and struck out the side in the 7th. Unfortunately that came with the D-backs already down 10-1 in an eventual 12-1 blowout loss.

The Diamondbacks dropped to 57-55 and are now 7-21 since July first in what's been an embarrassing free fall. They were passed in the Wild Card standings by the Cubs by a half-game today and there are two other teams in front of them for the final spot as well, Miami and Cincinnati. At this point it's not so much a question of whether they will make the post season but more whether they will even manage to end the year above .500. The way they are playing it appears there is no bottom in sight.

Ryne Nelson started for the D-backs and got off to a good start, striking out two batters in the first inning. After Gurriel's homer, however, Minnesota jumped on Nelson for a single, triple and then a two-run homer by catcher Ryan Jeffers. The Twins tagged Nelson for three more runs in the third, going single, single, double, sac fly and an RBI double by Jeffers.

With the team down 3-1 it already felt like an almost impossible climb for the dormant D-backs offense. With the score 6-1 after three, it was essentially game over. Nelson lasted just the three innings, giving up six runs on eight hits including a homer. Ironically he struck out five batters. The lack of swing and miss had been the big concern with Nelson, but tonight he just made too many mistakes in the zone and the Twins punished almost every one of them.

The only other hit in the game for the D-backs off Maeda was a bunt single by Jace Peterson immediately following Gurriel's homer. Maeda then proceeded to retire 14 straight D-backs, completing six innings. The Twins bullpen threw three scoreless hitless innings despite walking four batters. To add insult to injury Jovani Moran walked the bases loaded in the 9th, but the D-backs couldn't even scratch across one more run. The two hits were a season low.

Joe Mantiply gave up two runs in the 4th inning and Tyler Gilbert gave up solo homers in the 5th and 6th. The first of those was to Jeffers who hit his second homer of the game, a great night for him. Catcher Carson Kelly came in to pitch the 8th and gave up two more runs.

The series finale is tomorrow, 11:10 A.M. MST first pitch. D-backs ace Zac Gallen will start for Arizona, while newly activated left-hander Dallas Keuchel will make his Twins debut.