ARIZONA – The Arizona Diamondbacks are struggling. They just dropped the series to the Pirates and have now only won one of their last eight games. The Diamondbacks welcomed Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates this week, and well… it’s a series that fans and players alike would like to forget.
Tuesday’s game marked the 19th blown lead by the Diamondbacks this season—meaning they’ve lost the lead in 19 games where they were in a position to win.
Over these eight games, the Diamondbacks are batting .242 and walking significantly less. Before the Dodgers series, Arizona was averaging 12 walks per series. During this rough stretch, they’ve only walked 18 times (7 vs. LAD, 4 vs. STL, 7 vs. PIT). These are the lowest walk totals per series all season long.
There’s no denying that Corbin Carroll is also struggling at the plate. He’s batting .203 over his last 20 games. His average before the slump was .289, but it’s now fallen to .259. He’s left 42 runners on base and struck out 20 times. Let’s hope Carroll can turn it around soon for the D-backs.
Pitching hasn’t been our strong suit during these past eight games—especially on the bullpen side of things. The bullpen has posted a 6.68 ERA over that stretch, allowing 24 hits and 15 earned runs across 20.1 innings of relief.
Kevin Ginkel had a rough outing against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, giving up five earned runs. Manager Torey Lovullo spoke to the media afterward and said he wanted to give Ginkel the chance to work through the situation. He added that, with the top of the lineup coming up, he was being cautious and looking for the O’Neil Cruz matchup—but admitted he should’ve had a quicker trigger in pulling Ginkel.
To his credit, Ginkel stayed and answered questions from the media despite the rough outing. Jack Sommers pointed out that “despite multiple players leaving before questions, Ginkel stayed behind.” You can find the full video down below, but regardless, it was refreshing to see him take accountability.
Starting pitching, on paper, has done fairly well during these eight games, though there have been some eyebrow-raising moments.
For example, Zac Gallen was cruising yesterday—until the fifth and sixth innings when he gave up a couple of runs. His ERA has now dropped to 5.54, the worst among active D-backs starters.
Despite Gallen’s struggles, the starting rotation has combined for 48 innings, 35 hits allowed, 22 runs, and 38 strikeouts in this stretch, good for a 4.13 ERA.
As yesterday’s game wound down in the ninth inning, D-backs Radio hinted that some roster moves may be coming before the next series. What those moves are, we don’t know yet. But today is an off day, and it’s the perfect time to hit the reset button.
Now for some good news: A.J. Puk is on track to return from injury! I know, I can’t wait either. Through 8.0 innings this season, he has 12 strikeouts and a 3.38 ERA. Expect to see him back on the roster by mid-June.
There’s not much more to say, the Diamondbacks are struggling. And while we might still be playoff contenders, if these types of games keep slipping away, dropping winnable series, it’s going to raise a tough question: Will the Diamondbacks be buyers or sellers at the deadline?
It’s demoralizing for a team to expect to win a series, only to get outscored 19-12 over three games.
Despite the tough stretch, Lovullo says the clubhouse is in high spirits and ready to fight on. But if you’ve watched the past two games, it’s hard not to notice they look deflated. Thankfully, today’s off day gives the team a moment to regroup. Then it’s right back to it tomorrow.
Personally, I’m not worried. The Diamondbacks earned the nickname “Answerbacks” for a reason, because they’ve bounced back in situations nobody thought were possible. I think this is going to be one of those moments. There’s a lot to clean up, but I don’t think the players themselves are the issue. Their performance just needs some fine-tuning, and this off day might be the reset they need.
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