Arizona Diamondbacks Strand 10; Lose 5-4

This seems to be a common story for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the early part of the 2019 season. They are having a hard time finding that clutch hit. They will come back and tie the game, but for some reason they just can’t get that one that makes the difference.

The Arizona Diamondbacks had runners in scoring positions in six of the nine innings, including the final inning after Ketel Marte led off with a double off the right field wall. They would then follow up that clutch hit with strikeouts by Locastro, Peralta, and Walker.

Why Torey Lovullo decided against bunting over Marte to follow the his double is beyond me. I guess you could say that they were going for the win, not the tie. But with Locastro’s speed and the fact that Machado would have to stay to cover third with Marte running, a well-placed bunt might have worked and gave them runners on the corners with no outs.

But I’m not a manager, and I don’t have the skills to be one. So for now all I can do is sit up in the press box and “act” confused. One thing that is not confusing, is that the Arizona Diamondbacks are failing to score runs when they have runners in scoring position and less than two outs.

They led off offensively with a double by Adam Jones in the bottom of the first, and couldn’t get him in. The Arizona Diamondbacks then got another double by Nick Ahmed in the bottom of the second with only one out and failed to score. Wilmer Flores would get to third with only one out after a David Peralta single in the third inning, and again the Arizona Diamondbacks failed to score. They would again have runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh and Jarrod Dyson would get caught steeling third. Even with that, Peralta would make it to second with only one out, and they would again fail to score even after loading the bases with still only one out.

The Arizona Diamondbacks don’t “need” hitters. THEY HAVE HITTERS that just are not hitting in clutch moments.

Sure, the bullpen allowed five runs, but the Arizona Diamondbacks tied up the game 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth, so all that was needed was “next man up.” But nobody manned up tonight. It’s frustrating to watch, but I will continue to grow my “playoff beard” in support of the Arizona Diamondbacks and know that better days are still ahead with this young season.

However, their was one thing that I really did like. Their was a fire coming from the Arizona Diamondbacks that I have not seen in a while. I’ve long searched for that mean streak, and I think I saw some tonight after Peralta was hit by a pitch, and then later in the game Escobar yelled back to the mound after being hit.

I’m a Red Sox fan at heart as I’m from New England. When your best hitters get plunked, the favor will be returned shortly. I want that fire. I want the Arizona Diamondbacks to let the entire league know that they are not pushovers and that they will retaliate. Even as I’m writing this, I can’t remember the last time the benches cleared here at Chase Field.

Sometimes a good fight can awaken a beast. Trust me, I saw it when Jason Varitek picked up Alex Rodriguez in 2004 which led to a big brawl, and eventually to the Red Sox first championship in 86 years.

The final game of this four-game series is tomorrow afternoon as the Diamondbacks will attempt to not get swept by their NL West rivals.