It’s not over yet, but it sure is getting closer.
I’m not sure I can even do a traditional recap of this game because, as The Real Ramona noted as we sat outside after Eugenio Suarez struck out to end the bottom of the ninth, there’s really not all that much to say about this game. We only managed two hits across the entire ballgame, despite facing a starter who’d just been called up from AAA and was sporting an ERA above 5. And yet, our pitching kept us in the game until the very end, with the score tied 0-0 going into the top of the ninth. By that point, Atlanta had walked off the Kansas City Royals to win their contest 2-1, and the Mets had gotten wrecked by Milwaukee 6-0. So things were looking okay, mostly, aside from the fact that we couldn’t do anything on offense.
So, yeah. Some guy named Randy Vargas shut us down for six innings, allowing only one hit. We’d had runners on base—Marte got hit by a pitch in the bottom of the first, Gaby Moreno drew a walk to lead off the third, was forced on a Perdomo grounder, but Perdomo reached third in that inning, and was unable to score. Christian Walker was hit by a pitch with one out in the fourth. Corbin Carroll laced a double down the line in right to lead off the sixth, stole third, and was joined on the basepaths by Joc Pederson thanks to some catcher’s interference with one out, but we were unable to get anyone home. It was all like that.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Rodriguez actually showed up, and while he didn’t manage a clean inning through 42⁄3 innings, he was spectacularly efficient and never seemed to be in any real trouble, only needing 48 pitches to get through four innings. He recorded the first two outs in the top of the fifth as well, before a two-out walk and a subsequent single put San Diego’s first runner in scoring position. Much to the surprise of many of us in the Gameday Thread, and to the surprise of ERod himself, Torey Lovullo came out and took the ball away from him and gave it to Kevin Ginkel. A number of us, I think, thought that might be a mistake, but it turned out to be fine. Ginkel pitched into the sixth, Mantiply finished it up, Ryan Thompson pitched a clean seventh, and Justin Martinez pitched a clean eighth and recorded the first out in the ninth before getting pulled for AJ Puk, because David Peralta was coming up and, I dunno, Torey really wanted the lefty-on-lefty matchup?
Whatever. It didn’t go well. Peralta singled up the middle, and San Diego catcher Kyle Higashioga launched one over the wall in left center. Then San Diego’s rookie center fielder Brandon Lockridge launched a solo shot to just about the same place. Puk recorded the second out, then was pulled for the Crime Dog, Scott McGough. Remember him? Yeah, that guy. Anyway. McGough allowed a single and a third dinger, again to left center, before getting the last out in the top of the ninth. 5-0 San Diego
Aside from a leadoff Christian Walker single to start off the bottom of the ninth, we did nothing. So there you are. That’s your ballgame. I haven’t even written 600 words yet, but that’s your ballgame.
So. A couple more things.
We’re Not Out of It Yet
Believe it or not, tomorrow’s game still matters. It actually helps that the Mets lost again tonight. Less helpful is that the Braves won, but whatever. We are fighting over two postseason spots with two other teams, and ultimately, we don’t need to outrun the cheetah. We simply need to outrun the slowest of our competitors. Right now, that looks like the Mets. But if we win tomorrow, that’s good. If we don’t, it’s pretty much over, though I think maybe not entirely even then.
I’ll let other folks litigate the various scenarios over our last game of the regular season, and then the Mets-Braves doubleheader on Monday. Because now it definitely comes down to that doubleheader. But we’re not done yet. Our destiny is definitely no longer entirely in our hands, but where there’s breath, there’s life, right?
Late Update:
This from the comments below, for any of you who may be freaking out about all this on the morrow. Thank you, samath, you’re been doing the Lord’s work this weekend:
Putting This Season in Perspective, Regardless of How It Turns Out
It’s funny how things change in a year of baseball. This time last year, if we were where we are tonight, we’d be happy to still have a shot. Tonight, though, we’re all feeling pretty bitterly disappointed. I know I am. That said, I cannot say that I’m terribly surprised.
On paper, going into the 2024 regular season, we looked really good to make the postseason, and maybe even to take a run at winning the division. Eduardo Rodriguez getting injured in spring training damaged that, as did Merrill Kelly going out after his April 15 start, and then Zac Gallen going down after his May 30 start. The last time we had that kind of decimation of our starting rotation that early was 2021, when we wound up going 52-110.
Add to that the failure of a lot of our offense to perform over the first half of the season—Corbin Carroll, Eugenio Suarez, etc—and it’s frankly stunning that we finished as strong as we have, and that we’re still clinging to postseason relevance going into the 162nd game of the regular season.
And then consider our bullpen woes at various points in the season, which is a perennial problem for the Diamondbacks but which made a lot of the low points throughout the season even lower. Again. I’m stunned that we are where we are. Props to Lovullo and the team for holding it together with various combinations of duct tape, chewing gum, and baling wire for most of this season.
I feel like, tonight, we finally maybe began to get a glimpse of the Eduardo Rodriguez we signed for a lot of money in the offseason. So that was nice, and a positive for me watching this game. Too little, too late, perhaps, but what can you do?
It also occurs to me that perhaps the biggest injury loss we suffered this year was actually Bryce Jarvis, our one relatively reliable long-relief arm, at least until he went down. But that’s more worthy of consideration in the offseason, whenever that happens.
Scoreboard Watching
There is none tonight. It’s all about tomorrow now. Tomorrow, and Monday in Atlanta. Buckle up.
Win Probability, courtesy of FanGraphs
The Doctor: Eduardo Rodriguez (42⁄3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, +22.8% WPA)
Romana: Justin Martinez (11⁄3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, +17.0% WPA)
The Silence: AJ Puk (1⁄3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 HR, -51.9% WPA)
As one might expect, it was an active Gameday Thread tonight, if not an overly joyful one, with 431 comments at time of writing. CotG tonight goes to Snacks&DBacks, who rather sensibly checked out before the wheels came off the Snake Bus, but who offered some wisdom to help us keep this unfortunate result in perspective:
Anyhow. Please ignore the hand egg and the President’s Cup golf and so forth tomorrow, and join us for game 162 of the regular season, and the end of our regular season journey together! It’s a relatively early start for a Diamondbacks Sunday home game, with first pitch scheduled for 12:10pm AZ time. Brandon Pfaadt takes the mound for us; his opposite number is Martin Perez, another San Diego starter who’s unlikely to be part of their postseason rotation. So let’s see if we can avoid one last sweep and keep hope alive until Monday!
Sigh. Yeah. It’s been a pleasure writing these recaps for you all this year, as it is every year. As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!