Diamondbacks’ playoff hopes reach despair with 9 games to go

PHOENIX — Across several points in the 2026 season, whether it was following a skid or a backbreaking loss, the Arizona Diamondbacks continued to show tremendous resilience. It is the reason why they are still in the playoff chase in mid-September.

So, after Tuesday’s terrible defeat to the Miami Marlins, it felt natural to expect a smooth-bounce back win on Wednesday.

That’s going to have to wait at least until the 88-win New York Yankees come to town this weekend.

The D-backs lost 4-3 to Miami.

After fumbling the chance to get a game closer in the standings to their three National League Wild Card counterparts, Arizona went the opposite direction on Wednesday. The Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres all won.

Arizona is now five games back of the Cubs with nine games left for each. Chicago has the tiebreaker, so that’s just about a done deal now. For Philly, it’s the same story outside of the D-backs having the tiebreaker, and that does little to inspire confidence that the Phillies are catchable.

It’s all but assuredly now down to catching San Diego. The D-backs now trail the Padres by four in the loss column and 3.5 games overall. That now means Arizona has to make up at least one game in the standings before the two sides match up in the last three games of the year to even have a chance.

Again, if there were a few weeks left in the season, this D-backs bunch definitely would have one more spurt left in it, defying the deflating of its momentum. We’ve seen that proven true all year. The problem is, there are now 10 days left.

That spurt needs to come now, or else the season is over.

A blunt Merrill Kelly after the game on how he sees Arizona’s playoff chances: “About the same place as you guys see it.”

More sad turns for Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen

Early on, this looked to be a classic Kelly outing, one in which Kelly grinds like hell through a night when he clearly does not have his best stuff command-wise. Most nights, especially in his prime, Kelly would turn that into a nonchalant box score of a few earned runs on a night most through that struggle would get shelled, his superpower as a starter for many years. Nowadays, though, it’s a whole lot harder for him to achieve that feat.

Kelly had to toss 18 pitches in the first before 32 in the second, allowing six baserunners. He nearly got out of it unscathed in the second after letting two on with no one out, but Nolan Arenado couldn’t make what would have been his best defensive play as a D-back on an impossible throw fading toward his dugout on a hopper down the line with two outs and the bases loaded.

His throw went a bit off the bag, having one run charged to Kelly and the second scoring on Arenado’s error. In hindsight, Arenado should have just held onto the ball, but you can’t blame one of the best defensive third basemen ever for going for it.

In the next inning, Kelly had a 92 miles per hour fastball get tattooed long beyond right field by Jakob Marsee for a two-run homer, a pitch in a location a lefty like him sure enjoys. That is the type of mistake Kelly has made way too often this year to blemish what should be more productive grinds through control problems. As a long-time fan of the way he pitches, it is such a bummer to watch.

Through four innings at a 4-1 scoreline and the lone D-backs run coming from a Pavin Smith solo homer, Kelly was up to 81 pitches. That was a huge problem, because Arizona’s bullpen was compromised coming into the evening.

Juan Morillo, Kevin Ginkel and Justin Martinez had all thrown back-to-back days. Taylor Clarke came in with 45 pitches tossed in two out of the last three days. Brandyn Garcia was at 30. While Martinez was the only one definitively ruled as unavailable, Lovullo noted how it’s obvious who he would love to avoid calling to if possible.

The only arms you’d designate as fresh pregame were Jonathan Loaisiga (who threw 23 pitches on Monday), an off-the-last-two-days Dennis Santana and the new long relief option duo of Zac Gallen and Ryne Nelson.

Lovullo said pregame one of the plans (that sounded like the primary option) was for Gallen to be the bridge from Kelly to the other relievers. He acknowledged the oddity of this potential outcome, the franchise’s two premium pitchers of this generation of D-backs baseball subbing in for one another, calling it “very weird” as a possible moment for him on Wednesday.

That did not materialize, though, speaking to where Gallen is at right now as a legitimate bullpen option and how desperate Arizona is.

Nelson got warm in the fifth and relieved Kelly two outs later. That left a ton of doubt as to how Arizona would navigate the remaining innings should the game stay close or get even closer, but again, the D-backs are desperate enough right now to risk something like that as opposed to trusting Gallen in a competitive game with his first-ever relief appearance.

Derek Law was DFA’d on Wednesday to make way for Nelson, a useful multi-inning arm over the last few weeks that had given up one run in nine innings on eight hits and two walks. Any manager would have rather had Law available in that situation instead of Gallen. Lovullo said postgame Gallen was in a position to be the last arm available out of the bullpen.

The D-backs earlier this year cut players with real connections to the organization like Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Alek Thomas and Paul Sewald, but it hasn’t gotten that far yet with Gallen. As our own Alex Weiner sitting next to me noted, perhaps having Gallen as an emergency starter brings enough value to keep him around. Either way, it’s just sad.

Nelson, in his first appearance since June 15, got through the sixth. With a scoreline of 4-2 for the top of the seventh, Santana entered. He did great work to go two scoreless innings in just 16 pitches to keep it a two-run game before Loaisiga got the ninth, and an Arenado solo homer cut the deficit down to a single run.

The Marlins bizarrely rolled out Sandy Alcantara for the save, the starter for 101 pitches on Monday. Lars Nootbaar got a two-out walk off him before pinch-runner Jordan Lawlar got thrown out trying to steal second with Ketel Marte up to bat. Alcantara got his first-career save and first relief appearance since his rookie year with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017.

With the Marlins in a similar bullpen jam as the D-backs when it came to high-leverage arms, Alcantara told his pitching coach he’d be available out of the bullpen if needed, and his manager noted this was something Miami had pegged as a possibility with how the starters use their off days (and had done with another starter previously). His final pitch went 101 miles per hour. Lovullo admitted afterward he was confused by why Alcantara was in the game while crediting the Marlins for getting it done.

The offense was, well, the offense. Solo dingers from Smith, Arenado and Gabriel Moreno amounted to the damage. Arizona got guys on and failed to do anything with it, leaving eight more runners on base. Right now you’d have a better chance at getting rescued while stranded on a deserted island than scoring as a Diamondbacks baserunner. Those baserunners are a few games away from having a breakdown like Tom Hanks in “Cast Away.” Wilson! WILSON!

Wednesday’s attendance

22,162

Up next

The D-backs get a day off on Thursday before their last home series in the regular season this year against the New York Yankees. Brandon Pfaadt (7-3, 3.77 ERA) will face six-time All-Star Gerrit Cole (8-9, 3.67 ERA).

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