The Diamondbacks Miss First Chance to Clinch Playoffs

The Arizona Diamondbacks had prime control of their playoff destiny. They still do, but the road becomes much harder following a loss to the Chicago White Sox on Thursday afternoon. The team lost 3-1 against a team that has struggled to win games all season long. The pitching was fine minus two mistake pitches. The offense went quiet with just three hits against a pitcher who entered the day with an ERA in the mid-fives. Still, the Diamondbacks will look to regroup ahead of their series against the Astros.

Corbin Carroll had two of the team's three hits. His triple in the third inning followed by a sacrifice fly from Ketel Marte gave the team's sole run. The team did earn four walks, led by Gabriel Moreno's two, but they left six batters on base. They were unable to string at-bats together or come up with timely hits, especially with players in scoring positions. The team was 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

The pitching was much better for the D-backs. Anytime you have a bullpen game and the bullpen gives up just three runs and three hits, that game often ends in a win. Bryce Jarvis struggled with his command through his 2.2 innings. While he walked one and gave up just one hit, that hit proved costly. He left a hanging pitch on the inner half of the plate to Andrew Vaughn. Vaughn deposited it into the seats to put the White Sox up 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning. Jarvis suffered the first loss of his career.

Kyle Nelson came on in relief and gave up two hits and another home run on a hanging slider to Yoán Moncada. This has continued his worrisome trend since August 1st as he's been hit hard. Since August 1st, hitters have hit .323/.364/.597 against Nelson.

The rest of the bullpen did strong work. Miguel Castro, Joe Mantiply, and Luis Frias combine to pitch 4.1 perfect innings with six strikeouts. That's an encouraging sign for the team as they will be put to the test this weekend against a tough Houston Astros offense.

Manager Torey Lovullo had this to say following the loss,

"We gotta win every baseball game we're playing. We didn't do that today. So, there's some frustration. We just got to be better. We got to be better in all areas. We had some opportunities early that I feel like if we had scored some early runs, it might've been a different story. But at the end of the day, we only had three hits. Offensively, that's not going to get it done in a crunch time situation. I've asked a lot of this team. I'll continue to ask a lot of this team and they'll go out and give a great effort tomorrow."

The Diamondbacks are back at Chase Field tomorrow evening to end their season with a three-game series against the AL Wild Card contending Houston Astros. Zac Gallen is starting for the D-backs in a playoff-clinching scenario. Pitching for the Astros tomorrow is JP France.

If the D-backs wins tomorrow, along with a loss by the Chicago Cubs in any of their final four games, they will make the playoffs as an NL Wild Card team. The team is set up well basically, a win in any of the next three games will get the team into the playoffs. The D-backs still hold a 1.5-game lead on the Cubs and Marlins for the second NL Wild Card spot. The Astros are holding a 1.5-game lead over the Seattle Mariners for the third AL Wild Card spot. Both teams are playing to make the playoffs. It will be a terrific series. The first pitch on Friday evening is set for 6:40 p.m. The team is honoring long-time radio announcer Greg Schulte before the game as he embarks on his final homestand as the Diamondbacks' radio play-by-play announcer.