The Diamondbacks dropped another game against the Rockies 8-2. It was an ugly loss, with the pitching, defense, and offense failing to show up for the game. Arizona left outs on the field that came around to score and failed to link enough quality at-bats together to sustain any offense on the night.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Despite the ugly loss, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo remained optimistic about how the team’s position in the playoff picture in his postgame media session on DbacksTV.
“All the hard part is behind us, this is the best part of the year and I think they feel that. I think they’re embracing that. We’re hitting a little bit of a rut right now, we’ll find our way out of this.”
Jordan Montgomery, making his first start in nearly a month, had an up-and-down start against the Rockies. He gave up three early runs, but settled in late in his start. It was a curveball-heavy approach for the veteran left-hander, especially as he got further into his start. 39 of his 79 pitches were curveballs, which generated 14 whiffs. He finished with those three runs in 4 2/3 innings on six hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.
Montgomery’s outing was gutsy, but one that wasn’t supported by any offense. The Diamondbacks had no answer for Ryan Feltner, who dominated their lineup for 6 2/3 innings. The only hitter in the lineup that had a beat on him was Pavin Smith, who doubled twice and walked. Despite getting the leadoff man on in the first four innings, Arizona scratched across just one run.
“Swinging through some hittable pitches, things in the zone we normally handle and take good swings, put it in play aggressively, we weren’t able to do that today,” said Lovullo. “I can’t explain it, you come in this stadium and score a couple runs on back-to-back days. We got to figure this out.”
While the offense was struggling to put any pressure on Feltner, the defense was shockingly poor. They struggled to catch the baseball, losing a couple of pop-ups in the twilight sky in Denver, and a couple of misplays by third baseman Eugenio Suárez leading to the Rockies putting up crooked numbers.
They had a chance to hit themselves back in the game in the seventh. After chasing Feltner with two outs, Ketel Marte stepped up to the plate against left-hander Luis Peralta. Marte attempted to scoop out a two-strike curveball, chasing left fielder Nolan Jones to the warning track, but that opportunity came up short.
“I targeted a couple of opportunities, a couple options for him, that was one of him,” said Lovullo. “I don’t love hitting for Perdomo there but Ketel is one of the best right-handed hitters in Major League Baseball and I wanted to take a shot at it.”
The lone offensive highlight of the night came from Christian Walker, who skied a ball off the top of the right field wall and out for a solo home run in the eighth inning.
Walker continues to hit home runs at Coors Field. pic.twitter.com/Lm7MdIY1Gt
— Burn City D-backs (@BurnCityDbacks) September 18, 2024
Despite the ugly loss, they maintain a two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves, who lost to the Cincinnati Reds. Their magic number to clinch a Wild Card spot drops to 10.
Next Game
The Diamondbacks will try to salvage the series finale against the Rockies. They’ll send left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (2-3, 5.50 ERA) while Colorado will go with left-hander Austin Gomber (5-10, 4.44 ERA). First pitch at Coors Field is set for 12:10 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
