Diamondbacks come back from down 6, Rays earn sweep with walk-off win

The Arizona Diamondbacks fought back from a 6-0 deficit and forced extra innings after a game-tying, three-run homer by Adrian Del Castillo in the ninth against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.

The Rays, however, prevailed with a walk-off single by Dylan Carlson in the 12th inning for an 8-7 victory and series sweep.

Arizona (69-56) had not been swept in a three-game series since visiting the Atlanta Braves in April. Similar to that matchup, the D-backs got in their own way throughout the series.

The Rays walk it off in the 12th!

(via @RaysBaseball)pic.twitter.com/QHMzWUtjfS

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 18, 2024

Arizona recorded no hits through the first six innings of the game, and starter Merrill Kelly was tagged with six earned runs in his second start back. But a Corbin Carroll two-run home run cut the deficit to 6-3 off southpaw Tyler Alexander in the eighth inning, keeping the door open.

Joc Pederson came through with the go-ahead RBI single off left-hander Garrett Cleavinger in the top of the 10th inning to take a 7-6 lead, although the Rays evened the scored off Kevin Ginkel in the bottom half.

Arizona failed to score the ghost runner in both the 11th and 12th innings, not helped by multiple base running blunders in extra innings. Reliever Justin Martinez escaped a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the 11th, but Carlson poked the game-winner into left field for the win a frame later. Tampa Bay won Friday’s series opener on a walk-off knock by Brandon Lowe, who homered off Kelly on Sunday.

The Diamondbacks have hit .200 in extra innings this season and fell to 4-8 when free baseball is played.

“There’s some really good moments, and some really identifiable moments where we’ve got to improve,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We really fought hard. There’s no quit in this team. They’re hungry, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.”

Carroll broke the no-hit bid with a bloop single to left to lead off the seventh, and he scored on a Jake McCarthy sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.

The following frame, Carroll attacked a first-pitch sinker over the middle from Alexander for his 13th home run of the year and fourth against lefties. He already has five home runs this month.

Corbin Carroll – Arizona Diamondbacks (13)
pic.twitter.com/vIXUkhPiOd

— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) August 18, 2024

The Rays put in Pete Fairbanks to close the game in the ninth, and McCarthy singled to lead it off. Arizona went to Ketel Marte off the bench, who returned from a low-grade ankle sprain on Saturday after missing three games. Marte collapsed in the batter’s box on a check swing and was helped off the field, the second time in a week that he had to come out of the game after his initial ankle injury on Aug. 10.

“It didn’t look great,” Lovullo said. “We need to probably re-evaluate and find out how quickly we can get him back.”

Pederson came off the bench and walked in Marte’s place, setting up Del Castillo.

Del Castillo launched a 1-1 slider that caught too much of the plate for the clutch home run. He hit a walk-off jack against the Phillies on Aug. 9, his second MLB game, as he racks up the memorable moments early in his career.

ADC HAS ICE IN HIS VEINS!!!! pic.twitter.com/6WK5tnpSgO

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 18, 2024

Ugly series in the margins

The Rays finished the game with seven stolen bases, which proved costly for the D-backs who continue to manage with catcher Gabriel Moreno on the injured list. Tampa Bay stole 13 bags during the set, the most in a three-game span by any team this season. Arizona swiped one.

Arizona also committed three errors in Tampa Bay, although it could have been more with some misplays and faulty decisions from a typically elite defense.

The Diamondbacks have lost three in a row for the first time since June 26-28. They are still 30-13 since then.

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday to extend their division lead over the D-backs to four games. The San Diego Padres lost in Colorado, keeping Arizona one game back of the top wild card spot.

Merrill Kelly not as sharp vs. Rays

Kelly got his pitch count up to 96 in his second start off the injured list, but his outing was nowhere near as sharp as his return against the Phillies.

Kelly threw two scoreless innings before Lowe’s home run opened the scoring. From there, Kelly retired seven in a row, but the Rays got to him in the fifth inning with three runs on four hits. He also committed an error on a jump throw, as he tried to make a web gem on a slow chopper.

The Diamondbacks put him back out there for the sixth inning, but Kelly walked a pair to end his day.

Kelly’s velocity was substantially down to 89.9 mph with the fastball. His season average is 92.2 mph, the same as last year. The velocity on all of his pitches except the slider were down by more than one mile per hour. The 35-year-old missed more than three months of action with a teres major strain. He threw five innings with two earned runs to pick up a win over Philadelphia.

Up next for Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks continue their road trip in Miami against the Marlins on Monday. First pitch is at 3:40 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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