Andrew Chafin Blows Save in 9th, D-backs Lose 10-6

Bullpen issues continue to plague the Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks entered the top of the 9th inning tonight with a 6-5 lead. Torey Lovullo turned to Andrew Chafin for the save, but by the time the inning was over the Cardinals had sent nine men to the plate and scored five runs, sealing a 10-6 victory over the reeling D-backs.

Chafin's nightmare inning began with a dunk base hit into right, a walk, and then another single to load the bases for non other than Paul Goldschmidt, who had already homered earlier in the game. This time he singled to left on the 7th pitch of the at bat driving in the tying run. Chafin managed to strikeout Nolan Arenado but then walked the left handed Lars Nootbar to allow the go ahead run to score. Chafin was finally replaced by Kevin Ginkel with the bases still loaded, and Tyler O'neil doubled off him into the left field corner to clear the bases. 

Lovullo was questioned why he didn't go to the right hander Ginkel earlier to face Goldschmidt and Arenado. The manager insisted the matchup was the one he wanted because he felt like Chafin could get a ground ball to get them out of the inning. He also mentioned Goldschmidt's reverse splits this year. He's batting .266 with a .678 OPS vs. LHP this year, and .289 with an .888 OPS against RHP. But for his career Goldschmidt has a 1.023 OPS against lefties and .879 vs. righties.  In short this questionable decision was made based on a small sample size of 104 plate appearances in 2023 over the larger career sample size.

Ryne Nelson struggled at Chase Field again, giving up five runs in six innings of work. Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer off him in the first inning. Nelson looked good in the 2nd and 3rd innings, but then gave up two more runs in the 4th, and a solo homer to Arenado in the fifth. By the time Nelson finally had his lone strikeout of the game he had faced 26 batters. He managed to finish the 6th inning, but allowed 8 hits, walked three and saw his ERA rise to 4.97.

Nelson's home ERA is 8.01 and he's given up 73 hits in 48.1 innings, including 10 homers. His road ERA is 2.47 and he has 1.031 WHIP away from Chase Field. 

The Diamondbacks had fought back from a 5-2 deficit. 18 year veteran Adam Wainwright pitched five innings and left the game in line for his 199th win.  The D-backs started chipping away at the Cardinals bullpen, scoring two runs in the 6th on a solo homer by Christian Walker and bases loaded hit by pitch from Geraldo Perdomo to get to within 5-4. Then they took the lead in the seventh on a two-run pinch hit double by Evan Longoria.

The Diamondbacks can ill afford losses like this as they are fighting to stay in the Wild Card race and trying to convince their general manager Mike Hazen that he should be a buyer at the deadline. But the team has now lost 15 of their last 21 games and have dropped into a three way tie for the 2nd and 3rd wild card spots with Miami and San Francisco. All three teams have a 54-47 record, and the Phillies are 0.5 games behind at 53-47. 

Game two of the series is tomorrow night at 6:40.  Merrill Kelly will return from the injured list to make his first start in a month and left hander Steven Matz will get the ball for St. Louis