Punchless D-Backs swept, score just once
WASHINGTON — The Diamondbacks are not even two weeks into their season and already the storylines are on repeat. They do not hit. They make key mistakes. They lose. And then manager Torey Lovullo tells reporters in forceful tones that his team needs to improve.
They lost not once but twice in that fashion on Tuesday, dropping both ends of a doubleheader to the Washington Nationals. In their 6-1 loss in Game 1, they were held in check offensively, and an error by Ketel Marte helped the Nationals take charge. The nightcap was more straightforward: They did not hit, period, in the second game, a 1-0 loss in which they had a golden opportunity to potentially win the game in the ninth but failed to score.
Through 11 games, the Diamondbacks have 22 runs, 53 hits and a .156 batting average. They are last in the majors in all three categories. The Diamondbacks dropped to 3-8, one off the worst 11game start in club history.
“Sometimes you get beat down in this game,” slugger Seth Beer said. “You take a sucker punch to the face at times. I feel like when that happens, we’re getting back up and getting back out there. I take a lot of pride in that — and I know a lot of guys do — that we’re going to continue to fight and soon enough good things will start happening.”
It would be hard to come up with a more frustrating way for them to close out the doubleheader. In need of a run, they quickly loaded the bases in the ninth. David Peralta opened the inning with a single. Christian Walker drew a base on balls. Pavin Smith shot a single to right.
That loaded the bases for Beer, who has been their most productive hitter so far this season. But Nationals closer Tanner Rainey fired four consecutive fastballs. Beer swung through the first, fouled off the next two and swung through the fourth, a 96 mph heater above the zone.
“The first two pitches were very hittable,” Beer said. “I wish I had an answer on why I missed them. He had a really good spin rate. I really wish I could have got the job done. They did a great job of putting us in a situation to win a ballgame and he beat me today. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap. The guy came after me and got the best of me.”
Jake McCarthy came off the bench to hit for Carson Kelly but broke his bat on a weak foul popout. Sergio Alcantara ended it on a routine fly ball to left.
In both games, the Diamondbacks
did many of the things they have done since the season began. They worked counts, they created a handful of scoring opportunities. They just failed to deliver.
“If you’re going up there executing an approach and executing a plan and it’s just not going your way, you plan on playing the long game,” Walker said. “Over 162 (games), if you keep throwing that out there, it’s going to go your way more times than not. I don’t think that’s complacent or content. I think it’s the reality of the situation.”
The Diamondbacks went 0 for 3 in both ends of the doubleheader with runners in scoring position and two out, a situation in which they have yet to come through with a hit this season. They are 0 for 33.
Marte’s mistake in the first game opened the door for the Nationals to move in front. At that point, the Diamondbacks were not in bad position. They actually had a lead, 1-0, thanks to a Daulton Varsho solo homer. Left-hander Madison Bumgarner was cruising, pitching around four walks and not yet having allowed a hit.
With two out in the fifth, Bumgarner got the Alcides Escobar to hit a soft popup back of first base. Marte drifted over, Beer, the first baseman, gave way, and Marte raised his glove to shoulder height. The inning appeared to be over. Instead, the ball hit off the palm of Marte’s glove and dropped to the ground.
“It’s all my fault,” Marte said, speaking through interpreter Alex Arpiza. “I take responsibility for that. Players like me should not allow that to happen.”
Two batters later, the Nationals had a lead. Victor Robles laced a double into left. Cesar Hernandez followed by grounding another double down the third-base line. The Nationals had a 2-1 lead. They never looked back.
Asked if the Marte error were disappointing, Bumgarner redirected the blame.
“Not as disappointing as me not getting one of the next two guys out,” Bumgarner said. “That was the worst part. I’ve got to pick the guys up. That’s something that don’t happen very often, but that was a big spot where I should have got us out of it.”
The Nationals scored their lone run in Game 2 thanks to a weird play. With a runner on first in the sixth, the Nationals’ Victor Robles bunted to the right side. Diamondbacks pitcher Tyler Gilbert picked up near the first-base line and threw quickly to Walker.
But just as the ball was approaching Walker’s glove, Robles’ helmet fell backwards off his head and hit his foot behind him. The helmet kicked up and right at Walker’s face. The ball glanced off Walker’s glove. Both runners were safe.
“That was bad luck with the helmet getting in the way there,” Walker said. “I felt like I had a good read on the ball, but I think everything kind of happened all at once with the runner and the ball and the helmet getting there at the same time.”
The focus remained on an offense that still has not emerged from hibernation. Other than Beer, the lineup is filled with players sporting averages in the .200s, .100s and below. Marte is hitting .171. Peralta is at .216. Walker is hitting .118, Varsho .171. Kelly has just one hit in 25 at-bats (.040).
“Obviously I think we’re all frustrated,” Lovullo said. “It’s easy for me to say that we can be better and I think we can and will be. We’re just grinding right now. We can’t do anything about it other than keep fighting and keep going. That’s the sense I’m getting every day from these guys.”