Cardinals Home Runs Crush D-backs in Series Loss

Before the game, Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said the team is looking to buy at the deadline. With a vote of confidence given by the front office, the D-backs had an opportunity to take the series against the Cardinals behind their ace. Instead today's game continued the trend of lack of big hits at the most critical moments and poor relief pitching, resulting in an 11-7 loss to the Cardinals.

Zac Gallen allowed a solo homer in the 2nd inning, another run in the third, and then a solo homer in the 6th. The two solo homers continued a trend of giving up at least one homer in nine of his last 10 starts. With his team having fought back to tie the game up at 3-3, more trouble followed him in the seventh, as he allowed a one-out double to Paul DeJong and a tie-breaking single to Andrew Knizner that gave the Cardinals the lead for good.

Gallen was charged with five runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out eight and walking two. He was saddled with his first home loss of the season, having come in 9-0 in 10 previous starts at Chase Field.

After Gallen left the game, the bullpen proceeded to put this game out of reach. The first big blow happened when Paul Goldschmidt hit his second two-run homer of the series against left-hander Kyle Nelson. Scott McGough allowed four runs on a pair of two-run home runs in the eighth that allowed the Cardinals to blow open the game. The pitching staff collectively allowed five home runs against the Cardinals. Those tack-on runs would end up proving to be critical, as Arizona rallied for three runs in the ninth inning.

The D-backs had multiple opportunities to score against Jack Flaherty, collecting eight hits and walking twice against the Cardinals right-hander. While they scored three runs against him, it should have been more.

The first inning ultimately set the tone for how the day was going to go, as Perdomo tripled to lead off the game but was ultimately stranded after a weak fly ball and a pair of strikeouts. Perdomo, Corbin Carroll, Christian Walker, Dominic Canzone, and Jake McCarthy each recorded multi hit games. With his stolen base in the first, Carroll became the first National League rookie to have a 20 home run, 30 stolen base season.

With all that traffic, five times they got a runner in scoring position with no outs, but only scored two runs from those opportunities thanks to a 2-for-16 clip with runners in scoring position.

Despite the missed opportunties, the D-backs were able to battle their way back to tie the game on two separate occasions. Christian Walker's sacrifice fly delivered the D-backs first run in the third inning. Canzone then delivered the team's first hit with a runner in scoring position, singling home Carroll with two outs. In the sixth inning, Rivera launched a ball into the D-backs bullpen that tied the game at three and started a rally that gave them the opportunity to take the lead but they were unable to convert.

The loss now puts their second half record at 3-9. The D-backs will have tomorrow off, but will need to find a way to stop this second half skid from completely undermining their season. The Seattle Mariners come into town for a three-game series this weekend that could determine the direction of both teams and how aggressive they buy or sell over the next week. Right-hander Logan Gilbert takes the ball for Seattle Friday night while lefty Tommy Henry will start for Arizona. Brandon Pfaadt will start in game two on Saturday and Merrill Kelly will pitch Sunday.