The Dbacks fell once again for the second consecutive night in Boston 9-4. To make things worse, the Phillies and the Padres won so now the Dbacks are 2 games outside of the third wild card spot. They are losers of 3 in a row and are 4-6 over their last 10 games.
Despite everything happening off the field with this team and Ketel Marte, it was actually the pitching that let this team down for the second consecutive night. The Marte news is no doubt a distraction im sure for this team, however having Ketel Marte on the field isn’t going to change the fact that this pitching staff has given up 20 runs the past 2 games. You aren’t going to win very many games giving up that many runs no matter who you are running up there to bat.
Merrill Kelly continued his skid as his stuff has really regressed late into the season. Kelly allowed 6 ER in just 4 innings tonight including 4 walks. What has become especially alarming about Kelly is just how few of his pitches he is throwing in the zone. This was first brought to my attention weeks ago by Snakes Territory’s own Jesse Freidman, and tonight he noted that Kelly only threw 38.4% of his pitches in the strike zone. Last year, Kelly’s in zone rate was 47.8%. And it wasn’t just tonight for Kelly as he has had a sub 40% in zone rate for several of his last starts. Whatever is going on with him isn’t going to be a simple fix im afraid. He really has some issues he needs to iron out physically, mechanically, or perhaps both.
The offense was rather quiet again with the exception of a Gabi Moreno grand slam in the top of the 3rd inning. It was just like you drew it up too as with 2 outs Waldschmidt and Vargas each singled, and Carroll was hit by a pitch brining up exactly who you wanted at the plate in this situation, the teams hottest hitter Gabi Moreno. Moreno then proceeded to get ahead in the count 2-0 and then absolutely unloads on a mistake pitch 428 feet over the green monster for a grand slam. Like I said, just like you drew it up. Team baseball passing the baton to the heart of the lineup.
Unfortunately Merrill Kelly would hand the 4-3 lead immediately back to the Red Sox just 4 batters later. Terrible timing for a team desperate to get some momentum. Then the Dbacks offense would proceed to do almost nothing for the rest of the game outside of a Perdomo double in the 6th and a couple of singles gathered around.
Aside from the Gabi grand slam, the highlight of the game for me was seeing Justin Martinez back on the mound pumping 102mph fastballs. He did walk 2 guys in the inning and was far from perfect, but to be able to get him back out on the mound is huge for this team. What a bullpen these guys can theoretically run out there now that Martinez is back!
Like I said in the beginning, im sure the Marte situation is a distraction, but you aren’t going to win many games giving up 9 or more runs. The offense has not looked good since the Marte news broke with the exception of 1 swing from Gabi Moreno sure. However the Dbacks were not going to win either of these games with how poorly the pitching has shown up in this series.
Tomorrow will really be the test for this team as they send the red hot Brandon Pfaadt to the mound to try and avoid the sweep, but the offense will have to rebound against Payton Tolle and his power fastball. The Dbacks badly need to get some momentum back on their side and try and put this Ketel Marte situation behind them the best they can if they want to save their season. And hopefully tomorrow can also be some good news on the Ketel front if all goes well on his MRI.