Bader, Arenado homer as Cardinals beat Diamondbacks
ST. LOUIS — The home runs came just a few minutes apart in the seventh inning, a pair of blasts that each landed in the visitors’ bullpen at Busch Stadium and helped turn a would-be win — and a potential series victory — into a stinging loss for the Diamondbacks.
But the play that might have been most responsible for the 7-5 defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals, the one that set in motion that sequence of events in the seventh inning, occurred much earlier on Sunday afternoon. It was another early-season instance of a defensive blunder biting the Diamondbacks — and another play with second baseman Ketel Marte in the middle.
The Cardinals had runners on first and second with one out in the third inning when Diamondbacks right-hander Zach Davies fielded a comebacker off the bat of the speedy Harrison Bader. Davies gloved it, turned and threw to second, an apparent inning-ending double play in the making. But the throw, slightly to the first-base side of the bag, clanked off Marte’s glove. Everyone was safe and a run scored.
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Manager Torey Lovullo saw a chain reaction of ramifications. Not only did the Cardinals wind up scoring twice but Davies also had to throw additional pitches. Both proved costly. On a day when the Diamondbacks had several relievers unavailable due to their recent workload — and two others still on the COVID-19 injured list — Lovullo had to go to his bullpen after just five innings, thrusting less-proven options into higher-leverage situations.
“A couple of miscues today cost him some pitches and now we’re talking about pitching into the sixth inning, maybe even a little bit later and we can match up a little bit with some of the back end guys,” Lovullo said. “It just didn’t happen that way.”
Marte, who played primarily center field last year, continues to struggle in his transition back to second base. The error was his fourth already this season, and there have been several other balls he could not make plays on — balls that were scored hits — that have turned out to be costly for the Diamondbacks.
The day was not all bad for the Diamondbacks. Davies threw better, pounding the zone more aggressively. The Diamondbacks slammed four solo homers. Jordan Luplow hit two, his first big day at the plate since returning from the injured list last week. Nick Ahmed homered for the second time in as many days and the third time since his return from injury. Christian Walker connected for his fifth.
And the Diamondbacks, who led 5-3 after 6 1/2 innings, were in position to take their second consecutive series against a quality opponent after taking two of three from the Dodgers last week. Ahmed had mixed emotions when asked after Sunday’s loss if he felt good about the way the team was playing.
“Not good right now,” Ahmed said. “We had a game at 5-3 in the later innings, a game we want to win and feel like we should win. But we’re playing better right now. We obviously started off slow. We’re playing better. It’s good to get guys like Luplow in the lineup. He had a tremendous day. And the pitching is great. We’re playing all right right now.”
Things unraveled in the seventh. Left-hander Kyle Nelson allowed a run on a pair of hits and a ground out before giving way to right-hander Keynan Middleton with one out and a runner on third.
Middleton jumped ahead of Bader, 1-2, then nearly beat him with a 98 mph fastball, a pitch Bader fouled off with an emergency swing. He got another fastball on the next pitch and timed it well, blasting it out to left to put the Cardinals ahead, 6-5. Two batters later, Nolan Arenado clobbered a first-pitch fastball for a solo shot to extend the lead.
Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bader, Arenado homer as Cardinals beat Diamondbacks
