Can the Diamondbacks Overcome their Bullpen Tonight?

After another 9th inning loss, in which the bullpen blew a late lead, D-backs will try to rebound in Game 2.

© D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

Madison Bumgarner, (6-13, 4.83 ERA) will face the Rockies at Coors Field tonight. Jose Ureña (3-6, 6.13 ERA) Starts for Colorado. Game time is 5:10 P.M. MST

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The Diamondbacks will be trying to bounce back from being walked off again in the 9th inning last night. This time Caleb Smith was the victim, giving up a 3-run homer to Elias Diaz in a 13-10 loss. It was their 2nd such loss in 3 games, 5th since July 13th, and 8th for the season.  They also lost a game at home on September 3rd when they blew a save in the 9th and gave up the winning runs in the top of the 10th. 

It has to be incredibly frustrating and demoralizing for the Diamondbacks players and coaches to see the hard work they put in each and every day be spoiled by one of if not  the worst bullpens in major league baseball.

Time and time again, all season long, whether the team is playing well or not, the bullpen has had consistent meltdowns and issues protecting leads and locking down ballgames. They don't have the worst bullpen era in the league, there are 4 teams who have a higher reliever ERA than the D-backs 4.55 mark. But they've been the worst when it matters most.

No team in baseball has a lower reliever Win Percentage Added (WPA), which according to Fangraphs "captures the change in Win Expectancy from one plate appearance to the next and credits or debits the player based on how much their action increased their team’s odds of winning"

The Diamondbacks' bullpen ranks dead last in MLB with -4.41 WPA. This means that when they do pitch poorly in the pen, it's hard the largest negative impact on the team's chances of winning of any team in the league.

Of course the more traditional metric, such as Reliever losses tells us the same thing. Arizona's 34 bullpen losses are also the worst in the majors.  

But bounce back they must. What choice to they have? They still have to go out and play the games and try to win. During the offseason general manager Mike Hazen talked a lot about how the young players on the team will need to learn how to win games and establish a winning culture. But how much that is being undercut by the failure to construct a semi reliable bullpen is fair to question at this point? 

Madison Bumgarner will need to reverse his recent trend of poor outings, as well as a bad track record in Coors Field since joining Arizona. If he can't it might not come down to the bullpen anyway. 

Ureña has not been good this season, or in his career in general, and it's another chance for the young core of emerging position players on the team to put up a lot of runs. Between a struggling veteran starting pitcher and an unreliable bullpen, they'll probably have to.