Sloppy play by the Diamondbacks leads to defeat against the Marlins

PHOENIX — The Diamondbacks had a chance to win the series finale against the Miami Marlins. Blake Walston played solidly in his first major league game, but the batters struggled to get going on offense for the second time in the series. The defense was not in good form in this game and a sloppy inning took its toll on them in a 3-1 loss.

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Walston looked strong from the start, striking out the game's first three batters in impressive fashion. Despite batting in traffic for the rest of the game, he made the necessary throws to keep the Marlins off the scoreboard. He finished the game with 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, one walk and five strikeouts. It was an encouraging start for the young left-hander, given the amount of uncertainty in the starting lineup.

Walston began to falter in the fifth inning. After retiring the first batter, he walked No. 9 batter Nick Fortes and then allowed a single by Dane Myers. Bryan De La Cruz hit a sharp ground ball up the middle, but Kevin Newman stopped him with a dive and a shovel toss to second base to pressure Myers. That became a crucial play in the game and Walston's last batter of the day.

“Blake was more than efficient for me,” Lovullo said. “He looked like he was loosening up a little with his stuff. I don't like hitting a starting pitcher that early, but I wanted to be careful with him. He did his job, came off the mound and kept us in the game.”

Justin Martinez came in with runners on the corners and fell behind Josh Bell 3-0, but he put the Marlins' DH out of action with a flyout to center. Martinez was in trouble again in the sixth inning after Jake Burger was given a walk after throwing four pitches. Still, he escaped the inning by throwing out Emmanuel Rivera and Jazz Chisholm Jr. with splitters before putting Tim Anderson out with a broken-bat liner to shortstop. The young right-hander continues to show improved strike-throwing skills and is slowly working toward a more influential role in the bullpen.

The decisive inning for the Marlins came in the seventh inning against Kevin Ginkel. Again, it started with the No. 9 batter reaching base when Fortes hit a single with one out. Pinch-hitter Jesus Sánchez took advantage of the open gap between first and second base for the Marlins' second baserunner of the inning. De La Cruz hit a ground ball into the gap at shortstop, where Newman was able to quickly release the ball with a backhand, but the throw missed the base and hit Sánchez. Fortes scored from second base on this play. A wild pitch preceded a two-run single by Jake Burger that put the Diamondbacks behind by several runs.

“We hesitated a little bit at first, we made a mistake, it was a tough play,” Lovullo said. “When the gaps are so small and you play as hard on offense as we do, every little thing matters. That ends up leading to a lot of unearned runs. I admit it was a tough play, but we don't usually make mistakes in these scenarios. That's what I want to focus on: How can we continue to gain those little inches that don't put us in the situation we ended up in.”

Arizona hasn't shown much of a way to recover from a multi-run deficit this season, and is now 1-24 in such games during the 2024 season. At that point, they were down by three runs with just nine outs remaining. The Diamondbacks got an infield single from Gabriel Moreno in the seventh inning and a triple from Corbin Carroll in the eighth, but were never able to score the tying point on their last three attempts to the plate.

“Offensively, we just couldn't get anything done,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It's very frustrating to me because our guys are good hitters. They're talented, they can come in with a game plan and execute that game plan. When you go up there and think about the little things, big things happen. We need to get back to that mindset.”

The Diamondbacks are off Monday but will travel to Arlington to face the Texas Rangers in the first half of a home-and-away series. Right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (2-3, 4.05 ERA), who has a five-start streak, will be on the mound for Arizona while the Rangers have not yet named a starter. First pitch at Globe Life Field is at 5:05 p.m. MST.

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