The Diamondbacks had a chance to take a series win over the Nationals, but the game slipped away late in a 3-1 loss. The offense, which banged out 14 hits on Tuesday, mustered only four the following day. That put extra pressure on Brandon Pfaadt, who allowed three runs in his last two innings on the mound when his control left him.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Perhaps the tone of the day was set from the Diamondbacks’ MVP candidate Ketel Marte, who struck out three times against left-hander Patrick Corbin. It was a frustrating day at the plate for Arizona hitters, who scratched only one run against a pitcher who leads all of Major League Baseball in earned runs allowed (50) entering this start. Corbin struck out seven in five innings.
The Diamondbacks’ best chance to take control of the game came in the fourth. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Christian Walker opened up the inning with back-to-back singles. Randal Grichuk drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. A combination of poor luck and poor at-bats resulted in only one run scoring on a walk.
Eugenio Suarez lined a ball that deflected off of Nasim Nunez’s glove at short, but Nunez recovered in time to nail Gurriel at the plate. Gabriel Moreno overcame some tough calls at the plate to force in a run with a walk. Blaze Alexander struck out on three pitches, his second strikeout against Corbin. Geraldo Perdomo couldn’t get the big two-out hit, fouling out to first base. Following that inning, the Diamondbacks mustered only one hit through the rest of the game.
The issues with the offense came to a head in the sixth. Following a power outage, it seemed like the switch was flipped on Pfaadt. It’s unclear if the delay played any role in it, but Pfaadt walked back-to-back hitters in the sixth after retiring 12 straight hitters. The first was erased on the bases, but the second scored on Jesse Winker’s two-out, two-run homer. The Nationals tacked on another run in the seventh on Ildemaro Vargas’ single off Kevin Ginkel to make it 3-1.
The Diamondbacks take on the Nationals in the rubber game of the series. Right-hander Ryne Nelson (4-5, 5.49 ERA) takes on left-hander MacKenzie Gore (6-5, 3.24 ERA), with first pitch at 10:05 A.M. MST.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
