Arizona Diamondbacks 2, Miami Marlins 3: I Say Potato. You Say Poteet.

The pitching staff kept the Arizona Diamondbacks in this game, but the offense was unable to capitalize on late scoring opportunities.

By Keegan Thompson@k_man5000 May 13, 2021, 1:32am EDT

Earlier today I assumed a third straight win against the Miami Marlins was nearly certain with Zac Gallen scheduled to start. It would have been a great start to the rest of the week for me because I will be at both Thursday and Friday’s games, but then we learned this afternoon that Gallen is going to be out for at least a few weeks with a UCL sprain. Because of that, instead of watching our ace take the mound we would be blessed with an emergency outing from Matt Peacock.

Umpire CB Bucknor was as typically unpredictable behind home plate as he usually is with his strike zone. Arizona was behind right from the get-go only two batters into the game. Miguel Rojas reached on an error by Josh Rojas, no relation, leading off the game for Miami. National League RBI leader Jesus Aguilar added to his tally with a two run home runoff the left field foul pole.

Arizona cut the two run lead in half in the bottom of the first. Josh Rojas hit reached on a one out bunt single to third base and stole second to put himself into scoring position. He advanced to third on a fly out from Asdrubal Cabrera. David Peralta brought Rojas home with the 800th hit of his career, a double to left field. 47 more hits will tie him with Steve Finley for third all-time in D’backs history.

Miami countered that run right away in the second inning on a leadoff home run from Sandy Leon. My patience was wearing really thin at this point, but surprisingly Matt Peacock settled in after giving up his second blast of the game. He would only give up three more hits for the rest of his appearance, all singles, and no additional runs over five innings. That should have been more than sufficient for the offense considering the beat down they put on Miami last night.

Eduardo Escobar’s struggles continued tonight, and I’m starting to feel that maybe he should cede some playing time to Andrew Young until he can figure himself out. Eduardo would go 0-for-4 tonight, and is now just 4-for-35 for the month of May with 11 strikeouts and only 2 walks. Meanwhile Andrew Young pinch hit for Matt Peacock in the 5th inning and hit his 4th home run of the season, a 106.1 MPH solo shot to left field which made the score 3-to-2. Since 1974, he joins Robinson Cano, Trevor Story, and Ellis Burks with the second longest streak of hits going for home runs to begin a season at 4. Rob Deer has the lead with 5 home runs to begin a season.

Alex Young pitched a scoreless 6th and 7th innings allowing just a single to Magneuris Sierra. Taylor Clarke and Joakim Soria had to pitch to more traffic than Young in the 8th and 9th innings, respectively, but managed to keep the score the same despite the Marlins getting runners in scoring position.

Arizona came tantalizingly close to tying the game in the 8th and 9th innings, but ultimately came up short. Daulton Varsho began the 8th with a single to left field. With one out in the inning, Pavin Smith hit a bouncing single up the middle that went just past the diving Jon Berti. Varsho advanced to third on that single placing runners on the corners with only one out. Anything deep in the outfield would have allowed Varsho to score, but Rojas struck out and Asdrubal Cabrera flew out to right field to end the eighth.

In the 9th inning, Stephen Vogt hit a single to left field with one out. Torey Lovullo promptly inserted Tim Locastro into the game for him as a pinch runner representing the tying run. Escobar had a chance to be the hero and hit a liner to first base. Tim Locastro was off running with the pitch and would have been able to score easily if Escobar’s hit sliced down the line. Unfortunately, the massive Jesus Aguilar made a tremendous outstretched catch at first base and doubled off Locastro to end the game.