Late Rally Comes Up Short in Diamondbacks Loss to Mets

The Arizona Diamondbacks fell to the New York Mets 5-4 at Chase Field. New York slugged a pair of big home runs, with the Diamondbacks unable to recover despite a late rally.

The game started nicely for Arizona, as Corbin Carroll turned on an inside fastball from Griffin Canning for a leadoff home run. It marked Carroll's third leadoff home run of the season, second to only Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Since the start of the 2024 season, he has seven leadoff home runs, the fourth-highest total in the major leagues.

Even with the good offensive start, the Diamondbacks struggled to string together rallies against Canning. While they got five more hits against the Mets' starter, they were all singles. Arizona hit into two double plays, both off the bat of Josh Naylor, killing potential rallies in what was a tight game at the time.

Filling in for Corbin Burnes in the rotation, Ryne Nelson pitched in and out of trouble on the night. The right-hander walked four and allowed three hits but continually found a way to escape trouble. The Diamondbacks' defense also turned three double plays to limit the damage.

Perhaps the best one was turned by Carroll in right field. Following a one-out triple by Tyrone Taylor in the third, he caught a shallow fly ball off the bat of Francisco Lindor and delivered a one-hop strike to the plate to nab Taylor. The play marked Carroll's fourth outfield assist already in this young season and clocked in at 95.6 MPH.

Carroll’s improved arm continues to impress. pic.twitter.com/lCiIJTbyjg
— Alex D’Agostino (@AlexDagAZ) May 6, 2025

"I looked up there, they had some of the Statcast and it was a 95 MPH throw," said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. "When I first met Corbin, that was probably the least developed part of his game was his throwing strength and accuracy. When he sees something that he's not good at, he's going to work his butt off to make it something that's playable."

However, one of those walks came back to bite Nelson. Following his second walk of Juan Soto on the night, he jumped ahead of Pete Alonso 1-2. He left a cutter that stayed flat at the top of the strike zone and Alonso crushed it out of sight to left field to put the Mets up 2-1.

Nelson found himself in more trouble, with New York getting runners on the corners with one out, but he escaped with a strikeout and a groundout. He got one more out in the fifth, but after hitting Lindor with a pitch he was removed in favor of Jose Castillo. Castillo induced the third double play of the night off the bat of Soto to complete the inning. Nelson finished with two runs allowed in 4.1 innings, throwing 70 pitches.

"We had a hard pitch count of 70 pitches," said Lovullo. "And it was 69 pitches [through 4.1 innings], I decided to send him out there for one extra batter because I thought he deserved it. Threw the ball really well, aggressive fastball, stepped right into an environment, starting environment he's familiar with."

The Mets blew the game open against Ryan Thompson in the seventh. Francisco Álvarez reached on an infield hit that deflected off of Thompson, and Naylor couldn't squeeze the throw from Ketel Marte. After a strikeout of McNeil, Taylor doubled into the left field corner to put two runners on for Lindor. Lindor crushed a slider from Thompson into the pool area to push the Mets lead to 5-1.

The Diamondbacks mounted a rally in the bottom of the eighth. Perdomo, Carroll, and Marte each drew walks to start the inning, bringing the tying run to the plate with no outs. Naylor and Eugenio Suárez drove them home on back-to-back singles that got Arizona within a run.

Suárez's single traveled 412 feet, and would have been a grand slam in 21/30 ballparks. Gabriel Moreno then struck out and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. fouled out behind the plate to leave the go-ahead runs on base.

While the Diamondbacks were clawing their way back into the game, left-hander Tommy Henry kept posting zeros. He pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to give them a chance.

Alek Thomas reached on an error from Alonso to open up the bottom of the ninth but was thrown out by Álvarez trying to steal second, with the call being questionably upheld after Arizona challenged. Perdomo flied out to left and Carroll struck out to close out the game.

The Diamondbacks will try to even up the series against the Mets. Zac Gallen (2-4, 4.93 ERA) takes the mound for Arizona while David Peterson (2-1, 3.06 ERA) goes for New York. First pitch at Chase Field will be at 6:40 p.m. MST.