Arizona Diamondbacks lose to Giants, fall in 9th inning for 2nd straight night

For the second straight night, the Arizona Diamondbacks lost in the ninth inning.

In a 6-5 defeat against the San Francisco Giants, Caleb Smith’s run allowed in the ninth inning marked the league-leading 38th loss for the D-backs bullpen, but it wasn’t fully on him.

With a runner on first and two outs, a grounder hit to third by Giants third baseman Evan Longoria was fielded by Sergio Alcantara, who missed the throw into second base and let Mike Yastrzemski advance to third base. In the next at-bat, San Francisco’s J.D. Davis doubled to give the Giants the lead. Alcantara’s error made it an unearned run for Smith.

Arizona battled back from a three-run deficit to tie the game at five runs apiece through five innings via a two-RBI double for Emmanuel Rivera and a Jordan Luplow RBI single.

D-backs starting pitcher Tommy Henry struggled with giving up home runs for his second consecutive outing.

Henry, who was recalled from Triple-A Reno earlier that day, allowed five earned runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

San Francisco scored in four straight innings.

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford hit a solo shot in the second inning, catcher Austin Wynns smashed his own an inning later and then designated hitter David Villar scored two runs with a dinger in the fourth. Longoria’s RBI single in the fifth signaled the end of Henry’s night.

Henry last pitched on Sept. 7 in a 6-3 loss to the San Diego Padres. In that start, Henry also sacrificed three home runs and five earned runs.

The next day, Henry was optioned to Triple-A Reno, where he pitched for over two weeks before returning to the majors on Friday. The D-backs needed another starting pitcher after rookie Ryne Nelson was placed on the 15-day injured list earlier in the week. Arizona had moved to six pitchers in the rotation, including rookie Drey Jameson, who took Henry’s spot.

Henry’s ERA across eight career MLB starts is now 5.98.

The D-backs’ two other runs came from a Stone Garrett two-run shot in the third inning.

Taylor Widener, Luis Frias and Kevin Ginkel made it a scoreless three innings after Henry’s exit before Smith’s entrance in the ninth.

Shelby Miller, yes, that Shelby Miller, threw a scoreless 2.2 innings out of San Francisco’s bullpen with seven strikeouts. It was Miller’s first MLB appearance of the season after spending the majority of it in AAA as a full-time reliever. The former D-back was signed by the Giants to a minor league deal in June.

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