D-backs Implode in All Facets in Loss to Mets

The Arizona Diamondbacks did not play their brand of baseball in loss to Mets on Tuesday night

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt (32) delivers a pitch on Aug. 27, 2024 at Chase Field in Phoenix. / Owen Ziliak/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Arizona Diamondbacks did not play Diamondbacks baseball Tuesday night as they lost 8-3 to the New York Mets. They were plagued with errors on defense, untimely hitting, and a bad outing from their starting pitcher.

Manager Torey Lovullo said "The D-backs beat the D-backs in a couple of situations today."

Brandon Pfaadt struggled badly after the first inning. In the first inning, he went 1-2-3 with two fly outs and a strikeout. However, from the second inning, the wheels came off. Pete Alonso led off the second with a laser home run to right field.

He got Jesse Winker to pop out but walked Martinez. Then, Tyrone Taylor hit a ground ball to Pfaadt. Pfaadt turned whirled the ball to Newman who missed the catch to set up two runners on thanks to the error. An RBI force out scored a run to make it 2-0.

The next two innings were relatively harmless as he allowed a double to Lindor before setting down the next six batters in a row. However, the 5th inning is where things truly unraveled all over the field from pitching to defense.

Pfaadt gave up a double to McNeil to lead off the fifth inning before allowing four straight singles. He struck out Alonso and got a sacrifice fly before giving up another single after Geraldo Perdomo failed to make a diving grab and throw to first base.

With that, Pfaadt's outing was over, with his worst start in his last six starts, which have not been good. He gave up eight runs, only six earned, eight hits, a walk, and six strikeouts. Too often, he mislocated his fastball and failed to get much whiff on it.

Pfaadt had 22 swings on his fastball, 13 on the four seam and nine on the sinker. He achieved whiffs on just four swings as the Mets pummeled those pitches. They weren't hit hard, only three balls 100 mph exit velocity or more.

However, the defense failed to come up with crucial plays and the balls simply found holes. While one could say it was just bad luck, this is now the latest start in which Pfaadt given up four or more runs with this being the most. Of his last six starts, he's given up four runs or more in four of them.

Lovullo talked after the game about Pfaadt's outing, "Brandon...didn't have his best stuff but he was out there competing as he always does...We gave them those extra outs and those extra outs equaled unearned runs. That's not what we do here."

"There were a couple twenty pitch innings and that's just not him."

Pfaadt said "I didn't feel great today command wise, velo was down a bit. I think there was a lot of things that went into the fifth and it just kind of unraveled on us...They kind of made us pay for a couple of mistakes...Had to use a little more off-speed than we wanted."

Going back to the chaotic fifth inning, Jordan Montgomery made his debut out of the bullpen to a bases-loaded nightmare, not the kind of scenario one typically would want a new reliever to make his first ever relief appearance in.

He hit the first the batter he faced to drive in a run on a bad curveball that hit Taylor's foot. Then, he walked McNeil to score another run. Next, Geraldo Perdomo booted a ground ball to drive in yet another run to make it 8-0. Surprisingly, MVP candidate Lindor struck out to end the disastrous inning.

However, after that, Montgomery really settled down and saved this Diamondbacks bullpen. He proceeded to pitch the next four innings and gave up no runs with just five hits and one walk allowed. He mixed and matched his pitches, pitched effectively, and struck out two in what could be said to be his finest pitching as a D-backs pitcher yet over 4.1 innings.

Lovullo shared that "He did his job the way we wanted him to do his job. I'm very proud of him for making the adjustment and figuring it out."

The Diamondbacks avoided a shutout in the 7th inning off of Sean Manaea, who struck out 11 batters, thanks to a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. solo homer and a Corbin Carroll two-run home run. That was it for the offense aside from a few sporadic hits.

Box Score

The Arizona Diamondbacks take on the New York Mets for game two of the series Wednesday night at 6:40 PM. Eduardo Rodriguez starts for Arizona while Luis Severino starts for New York.