Snake Bytes 5/25: Failure to Close

Diamondbacks News:

[AZC] Diamondbacks miss opportunities in 10 inning loss to Phillies

But Gallen did not want to hear it. Speaking in the typically quiet, hushed tones he adopts after losses, he plainly made the case that winnable games need to be won. “Teams that have been successful the last few years, they’ve just found a way to put games away and found a way to win baseball games, really,” Gallen said. “Obviously, 6-3 is great. It’s better than 3-6. But this one is tough, for sure.”

[YB] Phillies avoid sweep, defeat Diamondbacks in 10 innings

The Phillies would go on to walk it off in the 10th, Jose Ruiz was credited with the loss. Ruiz also allowed the two-run homerun to Turner an inning prior, but since the Diamondbacks used up all of their high-leveraged relief pitchers earlier in the series, they did not have many other choices than to send Ruiz out for one more.

It would have been the first sweep of the season for the Diamondbacks, but instead they will end the nine-game road trip with a 6-3 record.

While this is still an impressive stretch, there is no question that this loss will be difficult to shake off during the off day on Thursday.

[BurnCitySports] GM Mike Hazen speaks on Diamondbacks’ recent success

[AZS] Decision coming on valuable baseball card of D-backs’ Druw Jones

Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Druw Jones has a baseball card with his autograph on it. Only one exists. It is essentially a souped-up version of a rookie card. The Athletic describes it as “the crown jewel” from the entire 2023 Bowman Baseball lineup of baseball cards from Topps.

A memorabilia dealer offered a quarter of a million dollars to someone if they pulled it within 30 days of its release on April 26.

[SI] Phillies announcer (Kruk) rips new rule on Wednesday during Diamondbacks game

[HMS] John Holmberg talks about Guy Fieri’s trash-can food and restaurant, and also acknowledges that the Diamondbacks are something to watch this season

*Spoiler - he hates Fieri’s restaurant.

Baseball News:

[MLBTR] Red Sox move Corey Kluber to bullpen

Through his first nine starts with Boston, Kluber has been tattooed for a 6.26 ERA. His 88.6 mph average fastball is the lowest of his career, and he’s also sporting career-worst marks in strikeout rate (17.7%), walk rate (9.4%) and HR/9 (2.38). He has just one quality start on the year and has only twice recorded an out in the sixth inning. On average, Kluber’s starts have lasted 4 2/3 frames.

[SBNation] Every MLB City Connect jersey, ranked with a tier-list after new releases

Without further ado, here we go! A reasoning for each jersey placement will be below the tier list.