D-backs Played Their Worst Series of the Season Against the Marlins

The Arizona Diamondbacks had a nine-game stretch where they could stack some wins against teams that were most likely going to be sellers at the trade deadline. They won back-to-back series against the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox on the road, but could not do the same against the Miami Marlins at Chase Field.

Looking back at that series, the Marlins were 10-5 entering Chase Field with a sweep of the San Francisco Giants. They should not have taken a team below them in the standings for granted, but they did, and now they’re in a world of trouble. The Diamondbacks have lost three straight games, and their season is threatening to spiral out of control.

Here are the three takeaways from this disgusting series against the Marlins.

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Buyers No More

The main takeaway from this series is that the Diamondbacks should no longer consider themselves buyers. They have the 10th-best record in the National League, which is too far removed from a potential Wild Card spot. Their playoff odds sit at 20.0% on FanGraphs and 17.2% on Baseball Reference entering play on June 29th.

What would selling look like to this team? That likely means shopping around Josh Naylor, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eugenio Suárez, Randal Grichuk, Shelby Miller, and Jalen Beeks. All of them will be free agents following the season.

The reality is the team will not get much more than a warm body for any of those seven players. The team faces an uphill battle to assemble enough pitching depth for the 2026 season, with so many arms undergoing surgery this season.

I may do a more detailed piece on selling, and which players could stand to earn opportunities if the Diamondbacks go that route, in the future.

Way Too Many Defensive Breakdowns

It was no doubt the most frustrating three games on the calendar, as the Diamondbacks failed to execute on pitching and defense against a hot Marlins team. While they have one of the best lineups in baseball, top-5 in runs scored and OPS+, it can’t carry the team if the pitchers can’t put zeros on the board.

Defensively, there were key breakdowns that led to some big innings for the Marlins. Dropped throws, a balk due to too many disengagements, poor throwing decisions, and terrible execution overall added extra runs to the board.

At the same time, the pitchers are not blameless. The hitters did their best to claw the team back in the game. In the series opener, they erased a three-run deficit. However, Merrill Kelly immediately served up a home run to give the lead back, and the Marlins led from that point forward. The bullpen threw gasoline on the fire, as three extra runs allowed the Marlins to withstand a 9th-inning rally.

In the second game, the defense spotted two runs on the board before Brandon Pfaadt got his first out. One of those runs should have been erased, as Pavin Smith and Geraldo Perdomo failed to field ground balls. Pfaadt was able to overcome the poor defense in that inning and allowed just one run the rest of the way to be in line for the win. While there are still location issues he needs to overcome, it’s steadily improved in his last two starts.

In the final game, the most egregious mistake came in the fifth. Dane Myers hit a hard roller right at Eugenio Suárez at third base. Suárez let the ball get through him and instead of a nine-pitch inning, Eduardo Rodríguez needed 24 pitches to escape a bases-loaded jam. Those extra 15 pitches caused an earlier exit than anticipated.

Lovullo can preach about his starters needing to pitch deeper into the games as much as he wants, but until the defense improves, it’s empty words. Pitching and defense go hand-in-hand, and the latter is getting in the way of the former. I have my opinion on why this team is so defensively poor, but I’ll save it until after the season is over.

There is No Salvaging This Bullpen

Between the struggles of the front side of the bullpen, the back end has to be nearly perfect to pick up wins. Tayler Scott has already been DFA’d after a terrible performance on Friday and has been replaced by John Curtiss.

On Saturday, it was the otherwise reliable Beeks and Miller who failed to do the job. Beeks inherited a four-run lead and retired just one hitter before giving way to Ryan Thompson. Thompson has been poor at stranding inherited runners, allowing 16 of 37 (43.2%) to score since the start of 2024. That was the case, as he allowed a two-strike, two-out hit to make it 7-6. Miller allowed a speedy runner to reach with no outs in the 9th, then allowed him to run wild on the bases to tie the game despite retiring the next 3 hitters.

In the series finale, Thompson inherited his 19th baserunner of the season. He retired the first two hitters he faced to escape the 6th. However, when asked to give them another inning, he walked the three hitters he faced. He got a break when Javier Sanoja was caught stealing at second, a call that stood after a Marlins challenge.

Rookie left-hander Kyle Backhus picked up Thompson in the 7th. He froze Stowers on a sinker right down the middle and got Eric Wagaman to hit a lazy fly to shallow right. Beeks came in for the eighth and has struggled to throw strikes. That allowed the Marlins to capitalize with five runs to take a 6-2 lead.

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