Mets 5, Diamondbacks 4: Royal Pain

Over their last ten games played, the Arizona Diamondbacks have scored three runs or more in only three games. Two of those games, tonight and Mother’s Day, Arizona scored four runs and still managed to lose the game. In both of those losses, Archie Bradley allowed a two run home run that would prove to be the deciding factor in the game.

Tonight’s contest began roughly 35 minutes behind schedule. The broadcast did not have the slightest clue as to why with no significant rainfall during the originally scheduled first pitch. Atmospheric humidity (don’t @ me I’m not a meteorologist) was 100% at first pitch, and there was a heavy fog throughout much of the game, but that did not stop the ball from jumping out of the yard. Both Arizona and the New York Mets would combine for four home runs total by the time this game concluded.

Patrick Corbin took the start opposing Steven Matz who also happens to be a left handed pitcher. Velocity for Patrick was down again in this start, and the team has been forgoing his scheduled bullpen sessions on off days to give him extra rest. Corbin breezed through the Mets in the bottom of the first striking out Brandon Nimmo on three pitches, and requiring only six to conclude the inning. John Ryan Murphy put Arizona in the driver’s seat early with a two out single in the top of the second scoring Deven Marrero from third base. Keep note that the hit came with first base open and Patrick Corbin on deck. Pitching to Murphy at the time made sense because if Matz would have recorded the out, Corbin would have had to lead off the third.

Corbin was not as fortunate in the second inning as he was to begin the game. It began with a nine pitch strike out to Jay Bruce. Devin Mesoraco followed, and home plate umpire Jerry Layne ruled that he was hit by the sixth pitch of the at bat. Video replay showed that the ball may have not made contact with Mesoraco’s forearm, but Torey Lovullo declined to challenge the call. Although there was no guarantee the call would have been overturned, the decision was costly as Michael Conforto hit a two run home run to right field to put the Mets on top 2-1. By the time Patrick got the third out in the inning, he had thrown 26 pitches in the frame. Stark contrast from how he started. His struggles continued in the third when he walked the first two batters to start, but nothing came of it as he retired the next three Mets in order. Fifty pitches needed for innings two and three after six in the first, and it appeared Cobin was on track for a short outing.

Paul Goldschmidt is inching ever closer to hitting below .200 a quarter of the way through the season. He stepped to the plate in the fourth inning without hitting a home run in his previous 122 plate appearances, a span of 29 games. He turned on an inside 1-1, 93 mph fastball from Matz just long enough for a home run in left field. You could almost sense the relief coming from him as he re-entered the dugout only to be greeted by the silent treatment from his teammates. Torey Lovullo was the first to approach him with a hug before the rest of the team joined in.

Ketel Marte hit a line single on the next pitch, but was quickly erased when Marrero grounded into a double play. Jarrod Dyson followed with a walk and quickly drew attention as a threat to steal. Matz made a pickoff move to first, but Dyson was already well on his way to second by the time Matz threw the ball. The Mets challenged the close steal at second, but replay showed that Dyson successfully slid around the tag. Dyson then proceeded to steal third to give him his eighth steal of the season. Now John Ryan Murphy was the batter when all of this was going on, so the Mets again had the choice to put Murphy on first with two outs and go after the pitcher. For the second time in a row, they decided to pitch to Murphy, and he made them pay with a two run home run to left field with two outs. That gave Arizona a 4-2 lead which held until the eighth inning.

Corbin settled in nicely after that retiring the next six batters he faced. He ran into trouble again in the sixth. It began when Nick Ahmed could not make the scoop on a grounder to short to throw out a sprinting Wilmer Flores at first. Jay Bruce lined the very next pitch down the first base line which pinballed off the wall in foul territory putting runners on the corners with no outs. Mesoraco popped out to make the first out of the inning, but Corbin issued his fourth walk of the game to Conforto to load the bases with one out. That concluded Patrick’s evening having thrown 98 pitches and striking out six Mets. Jimmie Sherfy and Jorge De La Rosa combined to record the final two outs and leave the bases loaded without allowing a run to score.

From there it appeared that Arizona was going to set cruise control and ride the back end of the bullpen to victory, but I think it’s safe to say that most fans were fooled by that hope. What followed was an absolute gut punch, put your head in your hands, scream at the sky in frustration moment. After Yoshihisa Hirano completed his assigned seventh inning with no trouble, it was Archie Bradley’s turn in the eighth. He gave up a single to Jay Bruce on the first pitch to begin the inning. Two pitches later he served a 95 mph fastball down the heart of the plate to Mesoraco who blasted the pitch to left center field for two runs to tie the game at four.

Daniel Descalso almost came through in a late and close situation again pinch hitting in the ninth when he hit a deep fly to right center, but it was caught at the warning track. With the score tied at four heading into the bottom of the ninth it was Andrew Chafin who took the call, but the Diamondbacks were perhaps better off waving the white flag. Brandon Nimmo doubled off of the right field wall to lead off the inning. Asdrubal Cabrera then hit a perfect bunt single to Descalso at third and reached safely to put runners on the corners with no outs. Torey Lovullo visited with Chafin and the entire infield in a desperate attempt to rally the team and keep Arizona alive, but Chafin surrendered a sac fly to Wilmer Flores completing a come from behind walkoff for New York.

It’s about as gut wrenching of a loss as Arizona has had in this lackluster month of May. Everything seemed to be trending in the right direction in this one up until the eighth inning. Goldy finally came through with an extra base hit, let alone a home run. JRM had not one, not two, but three two out RBI’s. And the Bradley Chafin duo could not keep it together to record six outs? I’ll stop screaming via written text now. We’ll be back in roughly ten hours to do it all over again.

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