The Diamondbacks were unable to stretch their winning streak to five games on Monday night after getting pummeled by the suddenly depleted Miami Marlins, 12-3. With the Dodgers and Giants playing each other this week, this series becomes even more pivotal than before, as it would ideally help them climb back into the pennant race.
Jason Kubel decided to get the party started for the D-backs by hitting his 26th homer of the season in the first inning on a 3-2 pitch, making the score 1-0. He wasn't bad in the outfield either as he racked up his 12th outfield assist, tying him with Eric Byrnes and Gerardo Parra in Diamondbacks history. One would think he will beat that out by the time the season is over.
Unfortunately for Arizona, their lead could not be sustained. Pitcher Joe Saunders was moving through the innings pretty well, but allowing plenty of base-runners all the while. Much of the damage came on bloopers that somehow found their way into the shallow outfield. In the fourth inning, that came back to hurt him after Giancarlo Stanton (who hit a ball into Friday's Front Row) and Justin Ruggiano hit back to back long balls off of him. It was all downhill from there.
Ruggiano's homer went approximately 442 feet deep into center field, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The Marlins took a 5-1 lead at that point and they would never look back. By the time the fourth inning damage was done, Saunders had allowed a nine-spot and the Marlins led 9-1. The nine earned runs were the most Saunders has allowed in his career. Entering the game, Saunders had an ERA of 3.70. Following the game, it is now a 4.22.
The Diamondbacks attempted to chip away at the lead by scoring a run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Marlins would come back the next inning and immediately replace it. After that, the rest was history. Stanton went on to hit yet another home run to left field, making it his 26th on the year and 13th against NL West teams. It was also his sixth career multi-home run game.
Manager Kirk Gibson basically waved the white flag in the top of the eighth after taking Miguel Montero and Paul Goldschmidt out of the game.
On top of the major loss, the Diamondbacks had their second smallest crowd of the season with only 17,707 fans attending the game. In all, it just wasn't a good night for Diamondbacks baseball and it is one they will need to put behind them if they still want to contend in the NL West.
The good news for the D-backs? They have more home games left on their schedule than any other team in the MLB, per Jules Tompkins. That's pretty good news, right?
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