Bullpen lets another win slip through fingers as DBacks fall to Reds in 11
As he reached into his glove to come set in the 11th inning on Saturday night, Diamondbacks reliever Nabil Crismatt heard the pitch selection relayed from his catcher’s PitchCom device. The pitch call, Crismatt said later, was not what he wanted to throw, and he briefly stopped his hand from going into his glove.
That hesitation ended up costing the Diamondbacks the game.
Crismatt was called for a balk that forced home the go-ahead run in the Cincinnati Reds’ jarring, 8-7 win over the Diamondbacks on Saturday at Chase Field.
It was, once again, a game in which the Diamondbacks’ bullpen could not protect a late lead, and this time it was top relievers Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald who coughed up a run in the eighth and two in the ninth, respectively.
Like all the other bullpen meltdowns this year, the night felt like a missed opportunity. But given the opponent, given the point in the schedule, given the standings and the wild-card race, it felt exponentially more costly.
“We knew what was at stake today,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We know what this series means. We know what the overall series total means, for sure. The beauty of this game is, we can wake up tomorrow and go out and play a game and win and keep moving forward.
“This team is in a good spot. We’ve got to tighten up a few things. As frustrating as it is right now, we’ve been resilient. We’ll be good tomorrow.”
The game was wild and raucous, a back-and-forth contest that late in the game seemed to produce a new hero or goat with every half-inning. For most of the early going, the Diamondbacks’ standouts seemed evident.
There was right-hander Zach Davies, who returned from the injured list to turn in five-plus innings of one-run ball. If it were a sign of things to come, the stability he could provide in the rotation would do wonders for a pitching staff that has been trying to piece together two out of every five starts in recent weeks.
There was a three-run blast from Ketel Marte, a home run that put his team ahead, 4-0, in the fifth inning and was his 100th in a Diamondbacks uniform.
There was Corbin Carroll, who celebrated his first bobblehead doll giveaway with a pair of extra-base hits.
But those storylines fell into the background after the Reds scratched across a run against Ginkel in the eighth, then scored twice more in the ninth off Sewald, who allowed two hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning in blowing his second save in nine chances with his new team.
Things appeared to get out of hand for the Diamondbacks in the 10th when the Reds scored three times in the top of the inning, all of the runs coming with reliever Miguel Castro on the mound, but Crismatt entered and managed to avoid further damage, retiring the side without a run scoring.
It was a good start in his Diamondbacks' debut — he had not yet pitched since being added to the roster last weekend in San Diego — but he was not as fortunate in the 11th. The Reds had runners on the corners and two outs, and Crismatt had two strikes on T.J. Hopkins when the balk was called. Crismatt had started to reach into his glove with his right hand before quickly stopping, then starting again.
“I was looking at it now when I came in and I saw I made just a little movement with my arm,” Crismatt said. “I feel like that wasn’t consistently my movement, and that’s why he called it. If I do it all the time, I feel like he wouldn’t call it because I wasn’t even close (to my glove).
“I was hearing the signs of the catcher and I was saying, ‘No, no, no,’ and I think on the pitch when I was going to grab the ball it was not the one that I wanted. That’s why I went back again. It was a little mistake that cost us the game, unfortunately.”
The Diamondbacks went down in order in the bottom of the inning. Lovullo asked Alek Thomas to sacrifice to start the inning before Jace Peterson and Jose Herrera went down swinging.
With regard to the bunt, Lovullo said he was playing for the tie in part because he felt a gassed Reds bullpen would give the Diamondbacks a distinct advantage if they could get to a 12th inning. And though he had Evan Longoria and Gabriel Moreno on his bench, Lovullo did not pinch hit for either of the final two batters. With Peterson, it was because he was on the heels of a big performance on Friday; with Herrera, Lovullo preferred the left-handed batter, noting that Herrera had swung the bat well on the night.
“I felt like with the numbers and just crunching things, and the matchups and the things that I look at, it favored a left-handed hitter,” Lovullo said. “But it didn’t work out.”
The Diamondbacks saw their six-game win streak end. They lost for just the third time in their past 12 games. They also missed a chance to grow their wild-card lead to 2 1/2 games. The Reds now trail by only a half-game, with the San Francisco Giants a game further removed.
The Diamondbacks still have a chance to secure a series victory on Sunday, but the Reds can salvage a split. And the Diamondbacks will be operating with a bullpen that has seen its gas light flip on.
“It is what it is,” Lovullo said. “We need guys to step up and get the job done.”
—Nick Piecoro
Corbin Carroll getting back to fueling DBacks’ offense
The Diamondbacks’ offense has come back to life in recent weeks, averaging more than five runs per game during the club’s 11-2 stretch the past two weeks. It is probably no coincidence that outfielder Corbin Carroll’s production has ticked up in that time, as well.
Over those 13 games, Carroll owns a .318/.404/.477 line with four extra-base hits and six walks. That comes on the heels of a 41-game pocket in which he hit just .216 with a .660 OPS.
Carroll said he had “gotten myself out of whack” but recently made a mechanical fix that has him back on track.
“He found it was mostly just in his posture,” hitting coach Joe Mather said. “The more we worked through it and tried different feels, posture-wise, he ended up finding it. We gave him some ideas, but he ended up kind of locating it. Just a little more athletic position, if I could boil it down to one thing.”
The recent hot streak dovetails nicely with Carroll’s first big league bobblehead doll being given out to fans on Saturday night. He said he remembers having bobbleheads of Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter and Felix Hernandez, among others,
“It’s going to be a ton of fun,” Carroll said “I’m looking forward to it.”
Carroll’s only other bobblehead was given out last month in Double-A Amarillo to honor his time there last season. While playing there, he earned the nickname “Corbin Barrels,” and that bobblehead featured him holding a bat while standing in a wood barrel.
His Diamondbacks’ bobble is of him running the bases.
—Nick Piecoro
Reliever Justin Martinez sent down in place of Zach Davies
The Diamondbacks needed room for starter Zach Davies in the lineup and optioned right-handed reliever Justin Martinez to Triple-A.
Martinez made his debut on July 7 and has since pitched in nine games with a 14.63 ERA across two stints in the big leagues.
“(Martinez) is getting closer with each outing and each opportunity,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s about going down and being consistent and putting the ball over the plate and using all pitches and not getting predictable. With each outing that he had here, we felt like he had started out very strong and might have gone a little backwards, but it was improved from the last time he was here.”
Since being recalled on August 17, Martinez recorded an 11.57 ERA with nine strikeouts and five walks over 4.2 innings.
“It’s just about developing and going down and getting a back-to-back outing, which he hasn’t had happen in the minor leagues. His first one was here,” Lovullo said. “Just continuing to get more seasoning and get back here as soon as possible.”
—Jenna Ortiz
Reds at Diamondbacks, 5:10 p.m., Chase Field
Diamondbacks RHP Zach Davies (1-5, 7.38) vs. Reds RHP Fernando Cruz (1-1, 4.30)
Davies has not pitched since giving up nine runs in 3 2/3 innings in a start against Atlanta in mid-July, after which he was placed on the injured list with lower back inflammation. … He made three rehab starts for Triple-A Reno, with his most recent being his best. On Sunday against Las Vegas, he gave up three runs in six innings, walking three and striking out two. … Cruz is a reliever, meaning the Reds are going to be trying to piece together coverage for this game. ... Cruz last pitched on Wednesday, when he threw in both ends of a doubleheader in Anaheim, tossing an inning in each game. ... The Reds on Saturday brought back RHP Ben Lively from the injured list, which could mean he is an option to give them a lengthy relief appearance at some point in the game.
Coming up
Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Slade Cecconi (0-0, 2.93) vs. Reds RHP Graham Ashcraft (7-8, 4.84).
Monday: At Dodger Stadium, 7:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (14-5, 3.11) vs. Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw (11-4, 2.48).
Tuesday: At Dodger Stadium, 7:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (10-5, 2.97) vs. Dodgers TBA.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bullpen lets another win slip through fingers as DBacks fall to Reds in 11
