Diamondbacks Drop Series Finale to the Phillies 4-1

The offense was quiet and a 5th inning meltdown by Justin Martinez opened up a close game

Jun 23, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Justin Martinez (63) reacts after allowing two runs during the sixth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Diamondbacks lost to the Phillies 4-1 Sunday morning to drop the rubber match of the three game series. Their record now stands at 38-40 as they head back home to Chase Field for a six game homestand starting Tuesday.

Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez was magnificent, throwing seven scoreless innings and allowing just three singles. Two of those base hits were erased by ground ball double plays. Sanchez retired the last 11 batters he faced and induced 11 ground ball outs.

D-backs starter Slade Cecconi lasted just three innings, giving up one run on three hits. Torey Lovullo decided to go with somewhat of a bullpen game and it was working initially.

Brandon Hughes came into the game in the 4th inning and worked around a one out single and a passed ball by catcher Jose Herrera to throw a scoreless inning. He began the 5th inning by striking out Kyle Schwarber before Justin Martinez came into the game.

Martinez did a good job of working around an error by third baseman Blaze Alexander, and some questionable umpiring calls, getting out of the inning with a 5-4-3 double play. Things did not go so well in the 6th inning.

After getting a groundout, Martinez walked two batters and then committed a balk to move the runners up to second and third. Prior to the balk there was yet another passed ball by Herrera and another questionable umpire call robbing Martinez of a strike.

He then left a splitter up to David Dahl, who singled into left, driving in two runs and giving the Phillies a 3-0 lead. Joe Mantiply came in to get the next two outs and limit the damage, but when down by multiple runs, the D-backs virtually never come back. Their record when trailing by two or more runs at any point in the game is now 1-35.

When Lovullo got the Phillies lineup this morning he formulated his game plan to get through the game. "You can see what I did, I clipped Slade after three innings.......I thought the race was going to be to three runs. So whoever had three runs today was going to win the game."

Lovullo felt he had the right matchups and it's hard to argue that he didn't. But as he said afterwards, "they beat one of our best relievers, that happens sometimes."

Frustrations boiled over for Arizona in the bottom of the seventh inning. For the second time in the game the D-backs were called for a pitch timer violation before the inning started. That usually happens when the pitcher takes too long with his warmup pitches.

Bench Coach Jeff Banister said something from the dugout and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Ben May. Banister charged out of the dugout and got into a heated argument with May before leaving the field. Torey Lovullo addressed the issue after the game.

"You could see some of the frustration that was boiling over on our side." Lovullo said. After giving the perfunctory comments about the umpires trying to be fair and impartial he went on to say that after looking at video he felt that some of the calls were incorrect.

"That happens in this game. We've probably got to be a little better to maintain our composure. We were really frustrated, you saw what happened. We're passionate, we want to win a baseball game. "

The D-backs made some noise in the ninth inning against closer Jeff Hoffman. Geraldo Perdomo led off with a pinch hit double and one out later Ketel Marte singled him home as the D-backs avoided the shutout.

A two-out single by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. brought the tying run to the plate in Christian Walker, but he grounded out to third ending the game.

After an off day on Monday, Brandon Pfaadt will be the starter for D-backs against the Twins, who have not yet announced their starter.