Diamondbacks Fall Down to the .500 Line After New Loss to Cardinals

Another tough game for Arizona.

Jun 22, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly (29) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the fifth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks continue to look like a rudderless team. Once again, they have fallen back to the .500 line after taking another tough loss in their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals are, admittedly, a tough opponent. But in what has seemed to be an extremely common theme in recent days, the D-backs struggled to take advantage of the numerous opportunities they had on Monday night, losing by a thin margin of 3-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Merrill Kelly rebounded from one of his uglier outings with a quality start, though he was ultimately still stuck with the loss after some shaky stretches. Arizona's offense was nearly nonexistent once again.

Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly has solid outing

Jun 22, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly (29) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Kelly was able to throw a six-inning quality start, getting back into that column for the first time sine June 11. He landed 64 of his 96 pitches for strikes and gave up three earned runs, but did manage to keep Arizona within striking distance. Unfortunately for Kelly, the Diamondbacks would not be able to overcome the early deficit he handed them.

And although Kelly's results were more encouraging, his overall outing was not quite as sharp as a six-inning, three-run stat line might suggest. He allowed seven base hits and three walks, and coughed up two runs on three hits and a walk in the fourth inning.

To Kelly's credit, he sharpened from there. He retired each of the final six batters he faced after dealing with trouble in both the third and fourth innings. His ERA lowered slightly to 5.71, but he was still given his seventh loss of this season.

The Diamondbacks need more consistency out of Kelly; even if he's pitching less effectively overall, Arizona would likely welcome regular performances like Monday's — if it meant avoiding a newly-arisen issue with blowup starts as the season goes on.

Diamondbacks' offense struggles again

Jun 17, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Tommy Troy (9) hits an RBI single in the third inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

It was a strange night at the plate for Arizona. They collected eight base hits and only struck out twice against the Cardinals' pitching staff. And yet, they went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded six batters. They did not record a single base on balls, either.

Nolan Arenado, who returned to St. Louis for the first time since the trade to a warm standing ovation from the Cardinals' home crowd, had a single and an RBI groundout.

The only other run came off the bat of Tommy Troy, who demolished his fourth home run of the season 110 MPH and 444 feet to dead center. Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte both went 2-for-4, but those four hits only contributed to one run scoring.

This will have to improve sooner than later.