Arizona Diamondbacks hammered by NY Mets, drop 3 of 4 in series
NEW YORK — For all the Diamondbacks accomplished during a rousing series at Wrigley Field last weekend, they managed to put themselves right back where they started with their play this week at Citi Field.
Rather than putting a chokehold on a playoff spot, the Diamondbacks let the rest of the National League wild-card contenders right back into the race by dropping three out of four to the New York Mets, a series capped by an 11-1 loss on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s like a game of poker, a game of blackjack,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “You get up, and you kind of give it back.”
After winning Monday’s series opener, the Diamondbacks had a 1 1/2-game lead for a wild-card spot and with three more games remaining against the fourth-place Mets they appeared to have a golden opportunity to bank victories.
It did not play out that way. Not only did their starters leave them with sizeable deficits each of the past three days, the offense mustered next to nothing, extending what has been a week-long stretch of tepid production.
Were the season to end today, the Diamondbacks would find themselves percentage points out of the third wild-card spt. At 76-72, they are barely behind the San Francisco Giants (75-71), tied with the Cincinnati Reds (76-72) and a half-game up on the Miami Marlins (75-72).
“We’ve got to leave what we did here (in New York),” Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly said. “We’ve got the Cubs (coming up this weekend) in, obviously, another big series. It’s unfortunate we didn’t take advantage of those games that we won in Chicago and come in here and at least pick up two here. That, to me, is the most frustrating part, especially because today kind of falls on my head.”
Kelly on Thursday became the latest Diamondbacks starting pitcher to get hammered by the Mets, giving up seven runs in five innings, an early hole from which his team was unable escape.
In four games here, Diamondbacks starters posted a gruesome line: 18 1/3 innings, 25 hits, 22 earned runs, 11 walks, 19 strikeouts. That line would be less surprising were two of the games not started by Gallen and Kelly, who rate as two of the better starting pitchers in the NL.
“I don’t know what happened,” Lovullo said. “They’re a hot team right now. They hit everything we threw like they knew it was coming. You’ve got to give them credit.”
Kelly gave up a pair of runs in the third, an inning that began with him issuing three consecutive walks, but it wasn’t until the fifth that the Mets took control of the game. With one out, Kelly allowed five consecutive batters to reach, a streak culminated with Jeff McNeil’s two-run homer to left to make it a 7-0 lead for the Mets.
Kelly thought it was less about the Mets’ offense than it was about his inability to execute pitches where he wanted them. Speaking to reporters, he ran through a list of mislocated pitches from the afternoon, then lamented the walks. In addition to the three in the third, he walked another in the middle of the Mets’ rally in the fifth.
“I think today the walks jump out,” he said. “If I limit the walks, I limit the runs, period.”
For as bad as the starters were, they were not the only ones to blame. Over the past six games, the offense has scored a major-league low 16 runs while hitting a collective .206/.288/.259 with one home run. They managed just four hits and four plate appearances with a runner in scoring position.
Much of the credit for that goes to Mets right-hander Kodai Senga, who gave up just two hits and two walks in six shutout innings. He struck out 10, picking up where he left off when he faced the Diamondbacks in July in a start when he struck out 12 in eight innings.
“He was throwing a lot of his pitches that started as strikes and ended up being not strikes,” outfielder Alek Thomas said. “I think he did a good job of keeping guys off balance and mixing in the forkball that he has.”
Moreover, the losses the past three days came in a ballpark that has been a sort of house of horrors for the Diamondbacks in recent years. Since the start of the 2018 season, they are 2-15 at Citi Field. In 2019, they saw their chances to make the playoffs all but officially dashed with a four-game sweep. Time will tell how prominently these three losses factor into this year’s race.
“I don’t know what’s going on in this ballpark,” Lovullo said. “It’s a big venue. It’s a big stage. To get to where we’re going, we’ve got to find out how to win in these settings. That’s not an excuse. I don’t want anybody to make any excuses. We’ve got to play better.”
Short hops
Lovullo removed Ketel Marte, Tommy Pham and Christian Walker from Thursday’s game after the sixth inning, a move he hoped will help preserve some energy ahead of the upcoming Cubs series.
“We’re getting close to the end of the 17 games in 17 days,” he said. “We’re at the end of an eight-game road trip. These guys are getting after it. They’ve been giving me everything they have. I just thought I could get a few guys off their feet and energized for tomorrow.”
*Catcher Gabriel Moreno rejoined the team after a three-day absence on the paternity list. His wife, Rosmila, gave birth to a baby boy, Gabriel Rodrygo, on Monday in Orlando. “It’s their first child and we’re so glad he was there for it,” Lovullo said. “We missed him for the three days he was gone. He’s a good player on both sides of the ball.”
With Moreno back, catcher Jose Herrera was optioned down to Triple-A Reno.
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Coming up
Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (1-8, 6.25) vs. Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-7, 3.71).
Saturday: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zach Davies (2-5, 6.81) vs. Cubs LHP Jordan Wicks (3-0, 1.99).
Sunday: At Chase Field, 4:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (7-8, 5.53) vs. Cubs RHP Javier Assad (3-3, 3.10).
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Diamondbacks hammered by NY Mets, drop 3 of 4 in series
