TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
The D-Backs’ Ketel Marte can’t handle a grounder hit by the New York Mets’ Michael Conforto in Friday’s game in New York. Arizona’s 3-1 loss was its eighth defeat in its past nine games.
NEW YORK – The Diamondbacks found themselves caught between an opposing pitcher with indisputably dominant stuff and a recent skid that makes tipping their cap to him begrudgingly difficult.
Their offense was throttled again on Friday night, shut down by right-hander Jacob deGrom and the New York Mets. In a 3-1 loss, they struck out 16 times, managed just six hits and had just five men advance as far as second base – and one of them was thrown out at third.
Their best hitters had miserable days, and they might have lost one of them – again. Right fielder Steven Souza Jr. left the game after the top of the sixth inning with more discomfort in his right pectoral muscle, the same injury that cost him the first 30 games of the season.
Souza, who initially hurt himself diving for a ball in right-center field in March, said he felt the muscle “kind of (fire) up again” when making a throw to the cutoff man from right field.
Souza doesn’t believe this version of the injury is anywhere near as bad as when he first hurt it in spring training, but he’ll be sent for an MRI on Saturday nonetheless. Judging by the frustration in Souza’s voice, the injury is likely to cost him more time.
“Just frustrating, obviously,” said Souza, who has yet to get going at the plate, hitting just .167 (7 for 42) in 13 games. “This freaking sucks.”
That sentiment also applies to the Diamondbacks’ offense of late. And, by extension, to the team itself. With Friday’s loss, the Diamondbacks have dropped eight of their past nine and 11 of 15. When they left Citi Field on Friday, their lead in the National League West was down to a game.
Most of the blame lies at the feet of the lineup. Over the past 15 games, the Diamondbacks are hitting .183 and have scored a total of 35 runs. They have scored two runs or less in seven of the past eight games.
And the hitter around whom the entire franchise is built continues to look feeble at the plate. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts on Friday, just the sixth time in his career he went hitless and struck out at least four times in the same game.
His batting average is down to .203, nearly 100 points below his career average entering the year. In May, he is just 5 for 59 (.085) with 23 strikeouts.
Goldschmidt, of course, wasn’t alone in his struggles against deGrom, who was firing upper-90s fastballs along with sliders in the low-90s and change-ups as hard as 91 mph. He finished with a careerhigh-tying 13 strikeouts in seven innings.
The top four hitters in the Diamondbacks’ lineup – which, for the first time since the season’s opening week, included third baseman Jake Lamb – went a combined 2 for 15, not counting the out Chris Owings made in his one at-bat in place of Souza.
With their most productive hitter so far this season, A.J. Pollock, out with a fractured thumb, it leaves the Diamondbacks continuing to grasp for answers. They believe they’re better than what they’ve shown. They also don’t believe panicking will solve anything.
“What changes do you make?” infielder Daniel Descalso said.