Game Recaps
Diamondbacks fall to Guardians after Ketel Marte speaks out on controversy by Nick Piecoro and José M. Romero [AZ Central]
C.J. Kayfus and Brayan Rocchio each homered off Gallen — Kayfus with a solo shot in the second, Rocchio a two-run shot in the fifth — spoiling an otherwise sharp performance.
The Diamondbacks had a handful of scoring opportunities in which they came up empty. They put two runners aboard in the first, sixth and eighth innings but went a combined 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position
in those situations.
Diamondbacks Fall Flat in Loss to Guardians by Alex D’Agostino [SI]
Still, a three-run start isn’t exactly a blowup. Gallen did manage to keep Arizona within striking distance and recorded his third Quality Start in his last four appearances.
“I feel like I had pretty good stuff for the most part,” Gallen told reporters postgame. “Just two mistakes just left the ballpark.
Diamondbacks News
Diamondbacks Promote Elite Pitching Prospect by Alex D’Agostino [SI]
Right-handed starting pitcher Daniel Eagen has been one of the top performers in the D-backs’ farm system of late, earning multiple awards and showcasing brilliant start after brilliant start.
Ketel addresses off-day issue: ‘This is a plan’ by Steve Gilbert [Dbacks.com]
“I can’t control the outsiders,” Marte said through interpreter/coach Rolando Valles. “I feel fine about the fact that my intent is always to help the team win and support my teammates and everybody around the team. Sometimes that criticism helps me be more motivated to do my job, which is helping the team perform or succeed.”
D-backs’ 2025 Problems Resurface in Frustrating Series Loss Against Rockies by Michael McDermott [D-backs Under Review]
The Diamondbacks failed to capitalize on a road series against the Colorado Rockies, dropping three of four games. This further seals the 2025 season as a complete failure, ensuring there’ll be no dead cat bounce or a sneak run into the postseason.
The harsh reality is this team never had a chance of repeating 2023, when they crawled out from a 57-59 record on August 12th and won 27 of their next 42 games to clinch a postseason berth. They don’t have any frontline starting pitchers or lockdown relievers in the back of their bullpen like they did that season. Zac Gallen is a shell of his former self, Merrill Kelly is on another club, Paul Sewald is long gone, and Kevin Ginkel is on the shelf indefinitely with a shoulder injury.
Could Ketel Marte saga cost D-backs’ Torey Lovullo his job? by Dan Bickley [Arizona Sports]
Veteran baseball columnist Bob Nightengale said the team should’ve suspended Marte for a week instead of running cover for their treatment of a star player. Otherwise, the manager is bound to lose his grip on the room. And there are clearly signs that some players have long been irritated with Marte because Lovullo won’t hold him accountable.
This is where Marte is both the villain and a victim in one of the strangest episodes in team history, a player handled so gently that maybe he never thought he was doing anything egregiously wrong.
Around the League
Injuries Put the Seasons of Zack Wheeler and Josh Hader in Doubt by Jay Jaffe [FanGraphs]
The Wheeler injury is the more serious of the two, as blood clots can be life-threatening if untreated, and career-threatening even if they are. Fortunately, it sounds as though the Phillies’ medical team caught this one before it could become an even more serious situation. Wheeler had struggled to some degree since throwing a 108-pitch complete-game one-hitter on July 6 against the Reds, with his ERA and FIP rising as his velocity trended downward.
Padres’ Xander Bogaerts loses homer on fan interference call [ESPN]
Xander Bogaerts of the San Diego Padres had a home run overturned due to fan interference, and manager Mike Shildt was ejected for coming out of the dugout to talk to the umpires in the second inning of Monday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants.
Bogaerts hit a fly ball to left field that appeared to bounce into and out of Heliot Ramos‘ glove and go over the wall as two fans, including one in a Giants shirt, reached for it. Neither fan appeared to touch the ball, but after a lengthy review, the home run call was overturned and Bogaerts was called out.
Bryce is first in 2025 with 2 440-foot homers in same game by Paul Casella [MLB]
Bryce Harper hit his longest home run since 2023 on Monday night — and then he hit an even longer one the very next inning.
Harper crushed his first homer of the night a Statcast-projected 440 feet into the second-deck in right-center field in the sixth inning. It was his longest home run since Sept. 23, 2023, but it took him less than an hour to top it.
Poll: Can The Mets Hang On To A Playoff Spot by Nick Deeds [MLB Trade Rumors]
It’s been a rough few weeks for the Mets. While they managed to take two of three in their series against the Mariners this weekend, it was their first series win since they swept the Giants all the way back on the weekend of July 25. Since then, New York has gone just 4-14 and not only fallen five games back of the Phillies in the NL East, but is getting challenged by the insurgent Reds for the final NL Wild Card spot. Despite that brutal stretch of play in recent weeks, this isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. While the club was at one point up 5.5 games in the division, that was nearly two months ago at this point. They’ve gone 21-34 since then, good for a .318 winning percentage that falls between the full-season figures posted by the White Sox (.355) and Rockies (.282).
Benches clear between Jays and Pirates when Tommy Pham flips bat after walk [ESPN]
Warming Bernabel’s walk-off pushes Rockies past Dodgers [ESPN]
