The Diamondbacks came into tonight with a golden opportunity. Several golden opportunities, actually, given that by the time our game against the Padres was underway, the Phillies were already well on their way to getting decimated by Tampa to the final tune of 12-1 Tampa. We had a chance to achieve our first 7-game win streak since 2017, we had the chance to go into the final game of the season needing only a last-game win or a loss by Philadelphia to punch our ticket to the postseason, we had a chance to secure a final series win, as well as the season series win against San Diego, with a game to spare. Walker Buehler was going for the Padres, which made things look pretty good on paper; it was a bullpen game for us, with Taylor Clarke opening for us, which also looked pretty good on paper. Alas, however, it was not to be.
Things didn’t start off great, with Buehler setting us down in order on 10 pitches to start things off, and then Clarke retiring Fernando Tatis Jr. for the first out before surrendering three straight singles and a hit batsman to give the Padres the early lead. He managed the second out on a popup on the infield, but Torey Lovullo replaced him after that with Jonathan Loaisiga, who ended the threat, but with us trailing. 1-0 San Diego
We started to make a bit of noise in the top of the second, thanks to a leadoff Geraldo Perdomo walk and a Corbin Carroll single to left to put runners on first and second. Then Padres catcher Ethan Salas tried to pick Carroll off first but threw the ball away down the right field line, which allowed Gerry to score and tie things up. 1-1 TIE
Loaisiga pitched a clean second, retiring the Padres in order, and the Diamondbacks took their first lead in the ballgame in the top of the third. Tim Tawa led off with the a single to left off the glove of shortstop Xander Boegarts, advanced to second one out later on a slow Ketel Marte groundout, and scored on a Gabriel Moreno single to right. 2-1 DBACKS
Johnny Lasagna couldn’t hold the lead though, allowing the Friars to take the lead back in the bottom of the frame thanks to a leadoff triple to center that Tim Tawa lost in the lights, followed after some extra foolishness by a slow grounder to first that scored the run. Kevin Ginkel came on to relieve Loaisiga, and promptly surrendered a Jake Cronenworth popup to shallow center that both Tawa and Perdomo lost track of and allowed to drop for an RBI double. 3-2 San Diego
But not to worry, the Diamondbacks were ready to take the lead right back themselves. With one out in the top of the fourth, Nolan Arenado was hit by a pitch with one out and was forced at second by a fielder’s choice groundout by Pavin Smith. James McCann stepped into the batter’s box and after getting ahead 3-0 on Buelher, deposited a middle-of-the-plate fastball just over the wall in pretty much straightway center field for a two-run homer:
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So that was fun. 4-3 DBACKS
Sadly, however, that was the last fun we were going to have for awhile, as the bullpen cracked, and basically broke, in the next three innings. Jose Cabrera took the mound for the bottom of the fourth, put two runners on, and then watched Manny Machado go yard. 6-4 San Diego
Nevertheless, he came out for the fifth as well, because he was supposed to be our “bulk” guy today, but he gave up another longball, followed by two more base hits, which earned him the hook after four outs recorded. Juan Morillo came in and got the final two outs, but not before another run scored from third on a groundout. 8-4 San Diego
Dennis Santana came out for the seventh, and allowed two more runs to score, thanks to three singles and a walk. To be fair, he pitched the eigthth as well, and sat down the top of the Padres’ lineup in order, but things were pretty out of hand by then. 10-4 San Diego
Meanwhile, the Padres’ bullpen had gotten involved in the game in the top of the fifth, and while they allowed traffic in every inning, none of that traffic found its way home, as the Diamondbacks hitters were kept in check until, somewhat unexpectedly, San Diego closer Mason Miller came out to pitch the ninth. And he was not sharp.
Tim Tawa didn’t wait around, going oppo on the first pitch he saw for a line drive single into shallow right. That turned the lineup over for Lars Nootbar, who walked. Ketel Marte than lined a single to left to load the bases. Somewhat oddly, Torey Lovullo sent Adrian Del Castillo, newly up from Reno, to pinch-hit for Moreno, and ADC promptly struck out. I assume that Torey was playing the lefty-righty matchup there, but Moreno’s bat has been fire while Del Castillo has been languishing back at AAA for god knows how long at this point, and having the first MLB pitcher he’s faced in months be a flamethrower like Miller didn’t seem like it would go well. That said, we weren’t done yet, as Miller walked Perdomo to bring in a run. Corbin Carroll then rolled over to second for a fielder’s choice that scored Nootbaar. Nolan Arenado, with an 11-game hitting streak on the line, then singled to center to score Marte and advance Carroll to third. Ildemaro Vargas, who’d pinch-hit for Pavin Smith in the eighth, came to the plate as the tying run, but alas he struck out to end the ballgame. 10-7 San Diego FINAL
Loss Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs
A Whale of a Player: James McCann (4 AB, 1 H, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR, 2 K, +21% WPA)
King Salmon: Gabriel Moreno (3 AB, 1 H, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, +12% WPA)
Fish Food: Jose Cabrera (1 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 K, -45% WPA), Taylor Clarke (2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 HBP, -12% WPA)
Sadly, due to some late afternoon discombobulation that left me in a diabetic low blood sugar fugue state for the first three innings or so, I never managed to stop by the penultimate Game Day Thread of the regular season, which made me sad. We seem to have had banner attendance, though, with a whopping 583 comments at time of
writing. I’m not quite sure what all was going on in the thread this evening, but the two top comments by popular acclaim both seem to be hitting the same theme, so rather than choosing between them, I’m going to split the CotG between Diamondhacks and onedotfive, for these two statements that I very much agree with:
Damn straight. It sucks to lose one-run games, but we win more of them than we lose, and it is indeed magical that, given where we were two weeks ago or a month ago or, really, coming into this season, that we’ll still playing to get into the postseason tomorrow, in game 162. Speaking of which.
So, About Tomorrow….
So, besides two essentially meaningless early games, first pitch for every single game 162 happens at the same time, which is 12:05pm AZ time. Michael Soroka is going for us, and the Padres, having clinched the home field advantage that comes with grabbing the top wild card spot, haven’t announced who’s going to be taking the mound for them. This is significant, because while San Diego has been playing for seeding position in the first two games, they have nothing whatsoever to gain or lose tomorrow, whatever happens in our ballgame. So we may very well see them resting all their starters, and most of their “A” bullpen, and running out a bunch of filler guys to go up against us while we’re going to be playing for our lives.
Meanwhile, the Phillies are going to be playing for their lives as well, hosting Tampa at what, by the weather forecasts, seems like it’s going to be a very waterlogged Citizens’ Bank Park. The Phillies are pretty much in the same boat we are, but the Rays are not. The Rays have already secured their top AL seed and their first-round bye. As such, they have no real incentive to rest starters or send out trash pitchers to the mound, because they’re going to have plenty of downtime during the bye and plenty of time to order their ALDS starters in whatever sequence they desire. So I’d say, in terms of opponents and opponent motivation tomorrow, it seems like it’s advantage Diamondbacks.
The kicker, of course, because we lost tonight, is that not only do we need to beat the Padres tomorrow, the Phillies also need to lose to the Rays. We lose, or the Phillies win, and they’re in and we’re out. So it really is for all the marbles tomorrow, and we will need a final dollop of help from the baseball gods to keep our wacky and improbable season going into October.
So please join us in the Gameday Thread, as we celebrate the final game of the 2026 regular season, and cheer our Snakes to help get them back to October baseball, and to just enjoy what might be the very last regular season baseball any of us might get to watch for some time to come. We hope to see you tomorrow!
If this is my last recap of 2026, so be it….it’s been an uneven season, but it’s always a pleasure to write up these recaps and share the triumphs and defeats of the Diamondbacks with the lovely denizens of the Snake Pit. As always, thanks for reading. And as always, especially tomorrow, GO DIAMONDBACKS!
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