Diamondbacks drop painful game to Rangers representative of 2025 season

PHOENIX — If any one game could summarize a season, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 7-5 extra-inning loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday did an apt job as storyteller.

The Diamondbacks squandered two leads, blew a save with Texas down to its final strike and pulled two players with injuries, including left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who was carted off the field with a knee issue.

The winning runs for Texas came from a comebacker that ricocheted off relief pitcher Juan Burgos and skipped into foul ground in the 10th inning.

Two runs scored on the single from Alejandro Osuna, Burgos walked off with a right forearm contusion and the Diamondbacks went quietly in the bottom half. Burgos’ X-rays were negative, but he and Gurriel will both undergo imaging on Tuesday.

The D-backs led Monday’s game 3-0 and then 5-3 entering the ninth inning.

Kyle Backhus entered to close it out, but he was charged with two runs and the blown save.

Rookie Cody Freeman, who hit a two-run home run earlier in the ballgame, hit the game-tying knock on a 2-2 count with two outs off Jake Woodford. He just flicked a single the other way that landed in short right field.

It was the 26th blown save of the year for Arizona, one off from the Los Angeles Angels for the major league lead. Arizona entered Monday’s game with a league-worst 5.43 ERA in the ninth inning.

“We’ve been in the spot before,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “You play the entire game. You feel like you do so many things right. But you can’t get that 27th out. … I  look up there, we gave up four runs in the last two innings of the game. That’s not a great recipe.”

All-in-all, another painful night for the Diamondbacks on several levels.

The game started as well as it possibly could have.

Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo smashed back-to-back pitches over the left-field wall to lead off the first inning against Rangers starter Patrick Corbin.

Tyler Locklear hit a solo shot to end an 0-for-20 slump for a 3-0 lead in the second inning.

Pop it, lock it, polka dot it pic.twitter.com/hVlw5ZAvuD

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 2, 2025

Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson allowed two runs through five innings and delivered a quality start, but he was also bit by the long ball. Freeman’s shot cut the Arizona lead to one in the third inning, and Wyatt Langford tied the game with a solo shot in the sixth. Nelson finished with six innings and three earned runs.

Arizona’s offense, meanwhile, went stale without a hit from innings 3-5.

Then the vibe at Chase Field changed.

The top of the sixth ended on a Blaze Alexander diving catch in his first MLB start in center field. The crowd was as loud as it had been since the back-to-back home runs, but triumph quickly turned to concern.

Gurriel stayed down for several minutes holding his right leg.

“ I had no idea what happened behind me,” Alexander said. “I made the play, looked at the crowd and started running in. I see Perdomo running towards me. I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ I looked back and Gurriel was down. I don’t know the extent of it.”

“Hopefully we get the best news possible, but it doesn’t look great,” Lovullo said.

In the bottom half, Alexander punched the go-ahead triple down the right-field line for the lead. He scored on a Gabriel Moreno single, getting the fans back into the game, but that energy was zapped in the ninth inning.

“Let’s go Rangers” chants came from the seats behind the visitors’ dugout once the score was tied, while the crowd on the third-base side started to thin out.

Playing the hits. pic.twitter.com/atDOplFfha

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 2, 2025

The Diamondbacks once again showed backbone and put together dynamic moments on offense, but late collapses and the loss of key contributors to injury have been among this season’s most prevalent themes — along with shaky defense and starting pitching, both of which have improved greatly of late.

Losing close games is another.

The D-backs are 4-4 in their last eight games with two walk-off losses, an extra-innings loss and a two-run loss.

“We lost count leverage in critical moments, made pitches we probably shouldn’t have made, landed them in the spots where their hitters were looking and we paid a price with two outs. And that’s what makes it so painful,” Lovullo said.

Up next for Diamondbacks

The second of three games against Texas begins 6:40 p.m. MST on Tuesday.

Nabil Crismatt is probable to start for Arizona.

Catch the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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