Diamondbacks 2023 Season Review: August
The Diamondbacks entered the month of the August staggered from a dreadful July in which they went 8-16. Their once high octane offense that had been scoring over five runs a game through the end of June, had scored only four runs a game in July. They had fallen out of first place and were on the edge of third wild card slot. A 4-3 win in the final game of July, the opener of a four game set against the Giants, provided some hope that a turn around was imminent.
It wasn't. Zac Gallen threw five shutout innings on August 1st, but he blew a 3-0 lead when the Giants got to him for three runs in the 6th to tie it up. Miguel Castro gave up a go ahead homer in the 7th to LaMonte Wade Jr., and ended up taking the loss in a 4-3 heartbreaker. Slade Cecconi made his major league debut the next day and pitched well, going 4.2 innings, giving up just two runs. But Tyler Gilbert gave up two runs in relief, and the offense could do no better than two runs off Logan Webb and the Giants bullpen in a 4-2 loss. Then Brandon Pfaadt lost a heartbreaker 1-0, despite throwing seven innings of two-hit ball. The only run was another Wade Jr. homer in the 4th, as the Giants took the final three games of the series.
While all this was happening, the trade deadline came and went. Having already acquired a closer in Paul Sewald on July 31st, Mike Hazen added veterans Tommy Pham and Jace Peterson to the mix a day later, and traded away Andrew Chafin for a relief prospect from the Brewers. Hazen was unable to secure a starting pitcher however, balking at the high asking prices. At the same time he was indeed a "buyer" at the deadline, one of the first milestones he had set in spring training to define a successful season.
The D-backs went up to Minnesota for a three game series and absorbed another bullpen loss when Scott McGough gave up a 7th inning homer to break a 2-2 tie, giving the twins a 3-22 victory. The Twins blew them out the next day 12-1. In the series finale the D-backs took a 3-2 lead into the 9th inning, and appeared poised to end their five game losing skid. Paul Sewald came on for his first save chance with the Diamondbacks. He blew it, giving up three runs on two homers including the walk-off to Matt Wallner.
Not yet at their low point, the D-backs went home to drop two games to the Dodgers and one more to the Padres to start a three game series, running their losing streak to nine games. They scored just 20 runs in the nine games, and their record now stood two at 57-59. The postseason odds had bottom out to just 13.4%, more or less back to where they were the first week of the season.
Somehow the Diamondbacks had gone from 16 games over .500 entering play on July 2nd, to two games under in the span of just 25 games by going 7-25. No team since 1900 had gone from 16 over to two under .500 in such a short span.
The D-backs finally won a game on August 12th, beating the Padres 3-0 thanks to six scoreless innings from Zac Gallen, followed by perfect bullpen work including a Sewald save. They came back from a 3-0 first inning deficit the next day to win 5-4. Heading out on the road they took two of three from the Rockies, scoring 17 runs over the final two games. Nothing like a series in Colorado to help get your offensive confidence back up.
Impressively they took three of four from the Padres in San Diego, including a double header sweep, and then swept two at home from the Rangers. The first of those two games was a huge walk-off victory. Torey Lovullo was forced to go with a bullpen game, and they only gave up one run through nine innings. Jordan Montgomery had thrown eight scoreless innings however. Down 1-0 in the ninth, Ketel Marte smacked a game tying homer off Nick Martinez, and then Arizona scored three in the 11th after the Rangers had scored two to take an improbable 4-3 win.
They went on to take three of four from the Reds in a battle between two young exciting teams battling it out for a wild card spot, They'd won 12 of 15 following their nine game losing streak to climb back into the Wild Card race. Going into Los Angeles 12 games back of the Dodgers the division race was all but over. But they had a 1.5 game lead over the Giants for the third Wild Card spot and seemed in a good position to still make the postseason.
Three days later they had been swept in three mostly non competitive games in which they were outscored 23-5. The D-backs ended the rollercoaster month with a 12-15 record, 0.5 games behind the Giants and just out of Wild Card position. Still, they showed their resiliency and were heading into September to play meaningful games with a legitimate shot at making the postseason. That met Hazen's second criteria for a successful season.
Individual Highlights:
Gabriel Moreno returned from a month long stint on the injured list on August 13th to bat .327 in 12 games, smacking three homers and posting a .978 OPS
Christian Walker hit .308 with six homers and 19 RBI, getting hot just as the team was turning it around
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. woke up from a two plus month slump to bat .286 with five homers and an .846 OPS
Corbin Carroll resumed his Rookie of the Year campaign by batting .269/.367/.441, .808 OPS, scoring a team leading 19 runs and stealing eight bases.
Zac Gallen made six starts, went 3-0, and posted a 3.19 ERA to continue his solid season and remain in the Cy Young race.
Paul Sewald recovered from his first blown save to record seven straight saves. He blew his second save for the D-backs on August 26th, but in between those two failed efforts, his 9th inning work had solidified the bullpen and helped everyone else settle into their roles.
Rookie Slade Cecconi posted a 2.57 ERA in 21 innings of work, giving up just 15 hits and four walks in the process.
