Diamondbacks’ bullpen fails once again as Ketel Marte couldn’t be hero off bench
The Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen surrendered five runs over the final three innings in a 6-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Sunday to drop the road series.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen surrendered five runs over the final three innings in a 6-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Sunday to drop the road series 3-1.
Newly called-up pitcher Nabil Crismatt tossed a respectable five innings of one-run ball before the first of three Arizona relievers, Jake Woodford, gave up four earned runs in his 1.2 innings on the mound.
The Diamondbacks had the bases loaded in the ninth down 6-4 with one out and catcher James McCann, who had just entered the game in the stead of Jose Herrera, got Jake McCarthy home on a sacrifice fly.
With Alek Thomas at second and Tyler Locklear at third, the game’s outcome was left in the capable hands of Ketel Marte, who had come off the bench as a pinch hitter for second baseman Connor Kaiser.
After seeing two pitches, Marte got under a very smashable hanging curve ball from Rockies’ Juan Mejia. The weak flare toward first base was almost not the final nail in the coffin for Arizona with Mejia colliding with second baseman Ryan Ritter. However, Mejia held onto the ball and cemented a three-game winning streak for MLB’s worst club in 2025.
Arizona closed Sunday at Coors Field a poor 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position despite seven players getting into the hit column (four with multiple).
The sour loss clouded back-to-back home runs by Corbin Carroll and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., the former connecting for his 27th of the season that traveled 474 feet.
Diamondbacks’ next game
Arizona (60-65) heads home for a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians (63-60), with first pitch at 6:40 p.m. on Monday.
Zac Gallen (5.31 ERA) is the probable for the D-backs and is set to face Guardians righty Gavin Williams (3.38 ERA).
Follow action of Game 1 of Diamondbacks-Guardians on 98.7, Arizona Sports.com and the Arizona Sports app.
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Comments
24 Comments
I put down my iPad after the top of the 7th when the Dbacks were up 4-1 to run some errands. Came back to see that the Dbacks were losing 6-4 at the start of the 9th.
Going to sound like a broken record: until the Dbacks management makes investments (free agent signings, trades and farm system development) in pitching, the Dbacks will continue to be a .480 to .510 team.
For those who blames the bats, this isn’t slow pitch softball. The bullpen had to get 9 outs AND they couldn’t.
Also upgrade the scouting system. The scouting department has let this team down as well to include the GM.
The pitching portion of our farm system is an absolute train wreck. We can’t outspend our rivals then we better be able develop adequate relievers. Trying to pick over everyone’s AAA leftovers doesn’t work