Arizona Diamondbacks 2024 Season Review: May

The Diamondbacks continued an early season swoon through May. With injuries and underperformance ravaging the roster, things looked dire.

Arizona Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll (7) sprints to first base against the San Diego Padres at Chase Field in Phoenix on Sept. 29, 2024. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

This is the fourth part of an eight-part series breaking down the Arizona Diamondbacks' 2024 season.

As the caldendar flipped to May, things began looking particularily bleak for the D-backs. The boulder that is the 162-game MLB season continued to roll down the hill, with no regard for the Diamondbacks who were sputtering out of the gate.

For more context on the team's state heading into May, make sure to read our previous entry in this series HERE.

Merrill Kelly, who was placed on the 15-day IL earlier in the year was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

This began the start of a very lengthy recovery process that would sideline him until August when he would successfully return to the mound for the team.

Kelly's absence was particularily bad news for the Diamondbacks, as Eduardo Rodriguez was already sitting out with his own lengthy injury, and big ticket starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery had yet to establish himself as a part of the rotation.

A rough start to the month was only compounded by losing 3 straight to open May. This came in a particularly crushing series loss to the Padres, who came into Chase Field and showed that they were not the same team that floundered in 2023.

Some much-needed positive injury news came on the 7th of May, as closer Paul Sewald returned from the injured list to make his season debut. Sewald was a key cog in the club's push to the World Series in 2023, and his absence in the back end of the bullpen was felt in 2024.

Sewald's return went well, closing out the first game he appeared in, but allowing a solo home run to Tyler Stevenson of the Reds. This would be the only Earned Run Sewald would allow until July 2nd, a dominant span of nearly 2 months.

The Diamondbacks would go on to weave between series wins and losses for most of May. They swept the Reds in Cincinati, before dropping a rough series to the Orioles. They then pounded the Reds again for the second time in a week but lost a deflating series to the Detroit Tigers.

During the Tigers series at Chase Field Zac Gallen would get into a heated back-and-fourth with Jack Flaherty. This issue escalated around Flaherty's tendency to dig into the mound, causing issues for Gallen to the point of repeated Grounds Crew visits becoming necessary.

Manager Torey Lovullo and bench coach Jeff Banister would also get involved, but nothing large came of the issue. Flaherty would later be traded to the division rival Dodgers,

The D-backs then went on to take a series from the Dodgers, before completing their inevitable backswing, dropping a heartbreaking series to the Marlins.

That may look bad in hindsight, but the final stretch of the month was much worse, with the Diamondbacks losing 4 straight to the Rangers and Mets.

The Arizona Diamondbacks ended up with an 11-15 record in the month of May, moving them to a 25-32 record overall.

Injuries

The 2024 season got off to a terrible start on the injury front and May was no exception.

Merrill Kelly was placed on the 60 day IL, only returning in August. This was a major rotational setback that forced the club to improvize, and go through a group of young arms from the minor league system.

The team activated Paul Sewald from the injured list on the 7th of May, after which he would go on a dominant stretch in his closer role through the early summer months.

Alek Thomas was sent on a rehab assignment but faced the first in a slew of setbacks which would ultimately push his return back until July.

The most brutal injury news of the month without a doubt came on May 31st, with ace pitcher Zac Gallen being placed on the Injured List with a Hamstring Strain.

This was an issue that popped up repeatedly throughout the year, first needing to leave a start in Seattle, and finally needing to be placed on the Injured List after leaving the mound in New York, while playing the Mets. He would be sidelined for nearly a month.

Player Stories

During May, Paul Sewald finally made his way back to the mound. He played a crucial role during May and June, providing the team with desperately needed back-end stability during this stretch. He pitched to a 1.29 ERA and 4 saves in 7 appearances in May.

Fellow former Seattle Mariner, Eugenio Suarez didn't enjoy the same success early on. He had only a .172 batting average with 2 home runs in all of May and totaled only 8 RBIs. This continued him down a dark path performance-wise heading into June.

Kevin Newman continued to shine for Arizona as a fill in for injured Geraldo Perdomo. Newman hit to a .312 clip when the team needed him most, with 3 RBI's and 12 runs scored.

The D-backs' first baseman Christian Walker also enjoyed a strong month at the plate, hitting .237, with 4 home runs and 12 RBI in 26 games. He also provided his iconic Gold Glove defense at first.