1 week Ago
The Arizona Diamondbacks' bullpen squandered yet another late lead, as the D-backs fell to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 8-7 in extra innings on Saturday. Eugenio Suárez crushed four home runs, but it wasn't enough to make up for another rough bullpen night. The contest got off to a rocky start, with right-hander Merrill Kelly falling victim to a familiar trend, allowing a pair of early runs.
Kelly served up a of middle-middle fastballs — one to Marcell Ozuna in the first inning, and one to Sean Murphy to lead off the second. That has been a common theme for Kelly, and many D-backs' starters of late, but Kelly did what he so often does - settle into a sturdy Quality Start. After the Murphy homer, Kelly held the Braves scoreless for four innings, allowing just four total hits and one walk.
He struck out four, but collected just eight whiffs. Still, his command improved greatly after his first pair of blemishes, and he exited with a six-inning start and the lead. That lead came mostly courtesy of Eugenio Suárez.
The slumping third baseman had been hitting well below the Mendoza line, but came into Saturday night sporting a small hit streak. Suárez crushed a ball in his first at-bat, cutting the 2-0 decifit to one run with a solo homer. But Suárez would find the Chase Field stands not once, but twice more before the night was over.
After Gabriel Moreno worked an impressive 11-pitch at-bat to plate two, giving the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead, Suárez got a high fastball, and extended Arizona's lead to 5-2. Then came the third blast — a towering 443-footer to left center field. With that third homer, Suárez became just the third player in D-backs history with multiple three-homer games, joining elite company alongside franchise greats Steve Finley and Luis Gonzalez.
This according to MLB's Sarah Langs. The historic shot made the score 6-2 at the time, but in what is beginning to seem like a broken record, Arizona's high-leverage bullpen once again spoiled an impressive offensive night. Ryan Thompson gave up a single, then a two-run homer to Eli White in the seventh inning.
But then Jalen Beeks, who has been a stellar member of a thinned-out bullpen, suffered his first poor outing of the season. With two outs, he issued a pair of walks, a single and an RBI double that Alek Thomas narrowly missed in center field, giving Atlanta an inevitable 7-6 lead. Drey Jameson nearly exacerbated the issue in the ninth, giving up a pair of walks, a single and a wild pitch.
But he was able to induce a ground ball double play to keep the deficit to just one run. In the ninth inning, history was made. Suárez stepped up to the plate, and worked a full count off Raisel Iglesias.
Then it happened — a laser of a line-drive homer to left field, cementing Suárez as just the second player in D-backs history to accomplish four homers in one night. J.D.
Martinez was the last (and only) Diamondback to do so, back in 2017. He's only the 19th player in MLB history to do so. That tied the game, sending it to extra innings for the third time in four games.
Unfortunately for Arizona, the jubilation lasted just one half inning. Closer Justin Martinez got a quick groundout to open the 10th, but tossed a wild pitch that scored the go-ahead run from third. Arizona was able to advance the ghost runner to third, but once again failed to plate it.
Suárez was responsible for five of Arizona's seven runs, with the D-backs' 1-through-4 hitters going without a knock. The Diamondbacks are now 14-13, and will hope to salvage the series on Sunday at 1:10 p.m.
at Chase Field, before their gauntlet of an early-season schedule continues with a series against the New York Mets..
