Diamondbacks fail to stay sharp after All-Star break in preventable loss to Cardinals

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks had opportunities to extend a four-game winning streak they built before the All-Star break, but they failed to maintain their sharp play in a 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals when baseball returned Friday evening.

Coming out of the four-day layoff sloppily is the fear of any manager, especially with a team playing some of its better baseball of the season leading into it.

Arizona’s pitching, defense, hitting and base running all had moments the team would have liked to have back on Friday.

“I’m pretty pissed,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We all deserve to be. I don’t have to justify it. You guys saw it. That’s not D-back baseball, especially coming off of the type of baseball that we were playing. You guys sat here and asked me, are we ready? And I told you we were. I think we were. But we just lost a little bit of our focus at the most critical times. And that’s not what I like.”

An error from second baseman Ketel Marte paired with a rough first inning from pitcher Merrill Kelly put the D-backs in a 2-0 hole. Arizona fought back to tie the game, and the Cardinals (51-45) later retook the lead.

In a 4-2 ballgame, Corbin Carroll finally broke through with his first home run since June 17 to tie the game up in the eighth inning. That moment of levity for a struggling star player may have been the story of the game had the Diamondbacks built on it.

From there, however, closer Paul Sewald struggled in another non-save situation, an inning that started with a weak comebacker Sewald failed to field cleanly and a walk of nine-hole hitter Jimmy Crooks. Diamondbacks pitchers did themselves no favors by walking five batters.

The Cardinals did what the D-backs failed to do: score their runners from third base.

Arizona (49-48) went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. A couple of opportunities with runners on third and less than two outs in the opening four innings loomed large when the game went final.

Why didn’t Ketel Marte challenge the final pitch of Diamondbacks-Cardinals?

Nolan Arenado walked to lead off the ninth inning, but pinch runner Jorge Barrosa inexcusably was picked off by Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien.

The D-backs still gave themselves a shot with a two-out double from the red-hot Tim Tawa, but Marte struck out looking to end the game on a pitch above the strike zone. The D-backs had two challenges remaining.

“I was waiting for a breaking pitch,” Marte explained in Spanish. “The two-seamer he threw me, it was in a good direction, a little bit high. I was surprised a little bit.”

“Sometimes you’ve got to trust your own instincts and he possibly thought it was a good pitch,” Lovullo said. “And he just checked off of it and lost his ability to challenge as soon as he stepped across home plate. … So it’s frustrating, of course, but there are 15 other things that happened in this game that are still eating at me right now.”

Ketel Marte struck out looking on a ball out of the zone to end the game and did not challenge despite the Diamondbacks having both of their challenges pic.twitter.com/DBwWicYwYh

— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) July 18, 2026

Diamondbacks need to regroup

Lovullo said pregame that he and his coaching staff sent out their “smoke signals” to stress that this is go time for the ballclub with the trade deadline less than three weeks away.

The Diamondbacks did some good things, as Kelly buttoned up to get through five innings with three runs (one earned) despite the 28-pitch first frame. Tawa homered for the third time in four games. Carroll avoided a potential four-game hitless streak, and Arizona went 4-for-4 on ABS challenges, which impacted the score in a tight game.

But a lot of the fundamental successes from the series in Los Angeles before the break — including quality at-bats with runners on base, clean defense and near-perfect bullpen work — did not show up. The D-backs will have to regroup on Saturday against a team they continue to chase in the National League Wild Card standings.

“That’s a frustrating one,” Kelly said. “We had a good week leading up to the break. Obviously, we wanted to carry that momentum through here. We grinded that one out. It was definitely a hard-fought game on both sides. Obviously, we had some opportunities there throughout the game and definitely towards the end of it. I would have liked to have scratched that one across, but the ball didn’t fall our way.”

Torey Lovullo on a sloppily-played game by the Diamondbacks tonight in a 5-4 loss. pic.twitter.com/ja5kmTx82D

— Alex Weiner (@alexjweiner) July 18, 2026

Why use Paul Sewald in a non-save situation?

Sewald has extreme splits when looking at save situations and non-save situations.

When a save is on the line, Sewald has been great with 22 saves in 23 tries and a 3.18 ERA.

Otherwise, Sewald entered Friday’s game with a 6.35 ERA.

“We’ve got to start looking into it,” Lovullo said. “The tie ballgame, the extra inning games, I know that’s a little slippery for him. I think if he gets that ball, we collect an out there, it’s a totally different inning.”

Sewald was warm after Carroll’s home run, and Lovullo trusted his veteran closer to get the bottom of the Cardinals’ order out.

Friday attendance

29,931

Saturday’s game starts early

The Diamondbacks play a day game on Saturday, starting at 1:10 p.m. MST.

Brandon Pfaadt (3-1, 4.70 ERA) will pitch for Arizona after he has allowed three earned runs over his last three starts since getting recalled from Triple-A Reno. Arizona’s lineup will face Cardinals right-hander Dustin May (5-6, 4.55 ERA).

The game will air on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.

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