The Diamondbacks could not finish off a three-game sweep, dropping the series finale to the San Francisco Giants 3-2 on Patrick Bailey’s walk-off double at Oracle Park.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Despite the loss, the Diamondbacks got a very encouraging sign for the long-term health of their season. Merrill Kelly, who has struggled since coming off the injured list last month, turned in one of his best starts of the season. He held the Giants to just two runs in seven innings with no walks and eight strikeouts. It marked his first quality start since April 9.
“He had that presence, he had that type of day,” said manager Torey Lovullo on the postgame breakdown on the TV broadcast. “Overall it was seven quality innings, two runs. He was throwing any pitch at any time, had a lot of swing-and-miss, had some big outs at the right time. That was a Merrill Kelly-type outing.”
What was working for Kelly was his ability to hit the edges of the zone. Ryan Additon gave some generous calls off the edges, which he exploited. The changeup was a key pitch, getting six of his 12 whiffs on the day, many of them coming in big situations. He pitched out of a couple of big jams in the second, third, and sixth innings to keep the Giants off the scoreboard despite runners getting into scoring position.
The inning that got away was in the fourth. Kelly gave up a single and a double to open the inning. He then struck out LaMonte Wade Jr. and Tyler Fitzgerald to put himself in position to strand the runners, but Bailey blooped a ball into shallow left to tie the game. It was a shame because Kelly got Bailey to chase a fastball down and out of the zone.
Between him and Zac Gallen’s hitless start Tuesday night, the rotation is starting to show some promising signs. They’ll need those two to get hot down the stretch to not only make the postseason but also advance.
Even though Kelly was pitching well, the Diamondbacks’ offense was nonexistent after the first inning. They made the reigning National League Pitcher of the Month grind hard for three outs, making him throw 42 pitches. They capitalized on a couple of defensive miscues from the Giants, with a throwing error and a passed ball on a strikeout resulting in two runs scoring to take an early lead.
Geraldo Perdomo led off the first with a clean single to left center on one of the few mistake pitches by Snell. Corbin Carroll worked a walk on a full count and Josh Bell singled on a slow roller deep in the hole in short, with Perdomo coming around to score when Fitzgerald’s desperation throw was wide of second base. Eugenio Suárez walked to load the bases with two outs for Jake McCarthy, who swung through a high fastball that clanked off Bailey’s glove and reached on the passed ball to make it 2-0. Kevin Newman shot a ball down the first base line, but LaMonte Wade Jr. made a big stop to end the inning.
“You have a really hot left-handed pitcher on the ropes, he threw 42 pitches in the first inning,” said Lovullo. “We were one hit away from really breaking this thing open, we had some opportunities. When you get him out of the game with 42 pitches and two early runs, you feel good about it. But their bullpen just got really stubborn.
After the long, grinding inning for Snell, the Giants went to their bullpen in the second inning. It was a very effective tactic, as the Diamondbacks only had two hits, four walks, and a hit batter in the next eight innings. It also helped the Giants that Wade made a couple more timely defensive plays to keep Arizona off the scoreboard over that time frame, as his diving stops likely took away at least three runs.
They had a couple of golden chances against the Giants bullpen but came up empty. In the fourth, they had a single and a walk put two runners on base for one out. However, a strikeout and a groundout allowed a tiring Landen Roupp to escape the inning.
In the eighth Christian Walker smoked a line drive off the glove of a diving Grant McCray for a double. Jorge Barrosa sacrificed Walker over to third to set up a run-scoring chance for one of the best run producers over the past two-plus months. A front door slider froze Suárez after he missed one to hit on the previous pitch and Jake McCarthy struck out against Giants’ defacto closer Ryan Walker.
Those missed opportunities came back to bite them in the ninth. Fitzgerald singled on the first pitch of the inning and stole second. Kevin Ginkel jumped ahead of Bailey 1-2, but left a fastball out over the plate and the Giants catcher drove a ball to left center that one-hopped over into the stands for the walk-off hit.
“He just made a mistake to a hitter that likes to stand in the box in Bailey in those very key situations and he’s happened to get some big base hits today,” said Lovullo. “Just a mistake out over the plate. He had him on the ropes a little bit, there were some defensive swings. There was a game plan against him, we just threw the ball in the wrong place.”
Next Game
The Diamondbacks travel to Houston to take on the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (9-7, 4.32 ERA) takes the mound for Arizona while Houston goes with left-hander Framber Valdez (13-6, 3.11 ERA). First pitch will be at 5:10 P.M. MST.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
