Maybe Indiana Jones was right about snakes.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have won nine of their last 10 games and climbed into the second wild-card spot in the National League. Their secret? Going 5-0 against the San Francisco Giants in that stretch.
It happened again Tuesday night. Arizona took a 6-2 lead after seven innings after yet another home run from Ketel Marte, who has three homers and 12 RBIs against the Giants in the last nine days. To give you some context, Matt Chapman has one home run and 16
RBIs in the entire season. Two late solo shots from Eric Haase and Willy Adames weren’t enough to bring the Giants back in a 7-5 loss.
The Giants went deep three times in the loss, with Casey Schmitt starting off the scoring with his 12th dinger, matching last season’s career-high for Tuesday’s second baseman. He also drove in Adames with an RBI single for his team-leading 31st RBI. Unfortunately, all three homers came with the bases empty.
Starter Tyler Mahle remained snake-bitten, falling to 1-7 after his second five-inning start and loss to the D-Backs in a week. He pitched better than in his previous start, succumbing to a brutal second-inning rally where he appeared to get lucky at first.
Ryan Waldschmidt’s RBI hit was ruled a ground-rule double after umpires decided the ball was trapped under the wall, despite Harrison Bader seeming to dislodge it quickly. The ruling sent Giant-killer Nolan Arenado back to third, though he and Waldschmidt would score on a groundout and a sacrifice fly. Then Adrian Del Castillo took Mahle deep, ensuring his ERA wouldn’t drop below 6.
The Giants were hitting off Eduardo Rodriguez (5-1), just not enough. Bryce Eldridge hit his fourth career double and got stranded. The 21-year-old also got “Oracle’d” in the 4th when he blasted a ball over 400 feet to right center, only for the wind and the dimensions of the ballpark to leave him with a long out.
Rafael Devers lined into a double play to end the third and after Victor Bericoto’s first major-league hit helped load the bases, Devers struck out to end the 5th. After Devers doubled home Chapman with no one out in the 8th, Juan Morillo got a strikeout, a pop-out, and a groundout to end the rally.
Things got worse when Keaton Winn entered the game for Mahle in the 6th and his defense did not help him out. After a leadoff single, Arenado’s grounder to short turned into a first-and-third situation after Adames’ throwing error. Arenado was given a single, as if his batting average against the Giants needed any help. Winn got a strikeout and two groundouts, but another run scored to make it 4-2.
In the 7th, the Giants forced Marte to hit right-handed, where he had been significantly worse this season before facing Giants’ left-handers. Last week, he hit a walkoff home run off lefty Matt Gage. Tuesday it was Erik Miller who got Ketel’d, giving up a 452-foot blast. Maybe they should just walk him.
The series concludes Wednesday and Marte is in the starting lineup, though Arenado will be out with a tight groin. Hey, we’ve all been there, right fellas?
Arizona is on a tear and so is Marte. If they ride this momentum into the playoffs, it seems clear that Mahle has earned at least a partial playoff share, while the Giants have simply earned a one-month reprieve from the snake pit.
