Not For Sale Yet! D-backs Start Second Half with Home Sweep of Cardinals

The Arizona Diamondbacks finished the first half at 47-50. Before the series, manager Torey Lovullo admitted that it would be a tough sell to convince GM Mike Hazen to buy at the deadline if they were under .500.

“We all know how important this series was,” said Lovullo in the postgame segment on DbacksTV. “Our guys came out and responded, and I’m really proud of them for that. They were a group that is very hungry, they want to go out and play their best baseball, and put this team back in the middle of this race.”

After playing their best three games of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals, the D-backs sit at .500, and the entire vibe around the club has shifted. This team still has a long way to go to convince Hazen to add to this club, with nine games remaining before the July 30th deadline. But the long journey begins with a single step.

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After the weekend, Arizona is just 4.5 games back of San Diego for the final Wild Card spot. They’ll have a tough matchup coming up next in the Houston Astros, a team that’s caught fire after another slow start.

D-backs Starting Pitching Steps Up

If you could point out one stat that best correlates to winning for the 2025 Diamondbacks, it’s quality starts. They have 41 quality starts in their first 100 games. Arizona is 32-9 in such games, with the rotation credited for 28 of the 32 wins.

The reason this stat works out so well for the club is twofold. Not only does a quality start allow a lineup that is fourth in runs scored per game (5.15) to build a lead, but it protects Lovullo from having to overexpose the fatal flaw of the club (their bullpen) in tough situations.

Over the weekend, the rotation delivered three quality starts. Brandon Pfaadt (8), Ryne Nelson (4), and Merrill Kelly (12) held the Cardinals collectively to three runs over 19 innings. None of the pitchers gave up a crooked number, which limited St. Louis from making an impact offensively.

The only inning where the starter was in trouble all series long came in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game, when Kelly loaded the bases with walks to the 7-9 hitters in the lineup. However, he surrendered just one run after inducing two groundouts and a strikeout.

For the D-backs to make an inspired run back into Wild Card contention, the rotation is key. That’s the part of the roster the front office elected to make the backbone of the club. They’ll need Zac Gallen and Eduardo Rodríguez to contribute as well to sustain this run.

Eugenio Suárez is On Another Heater

After being snubbed from the home run derby, deserved or not, Suárez has hosted his own at the expense of Angels and Cardinals pitchers. In his last five games, the D-backs’ third baseman has crushed six home runs.

“I’ve been working so hard on my approach, my mechanics, my mentality, being positive every day, try to help my team win games, and giving my 100% to the team,” said Suárez in the postgame interview on DbacksTV.

Geno is such an important part of Arizona’s lineup due to his ability to blast the ball out of the park. He’s at 35 home runs for the season and could become the third player in franchise history (Luis Gonzalez and Mark Reynolds) to hit 40 or more homers in a season. He’s on pace for 57, but if he finishes the year in the desert could finish in second place, ahead of Reynolds’ 44 in 2009.

When he gets hot, he can carry a lineup for a series, a week, or even a month. With the top of the order featuring Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, and Josh Naylor, that means plenty of opportunities to drive in runs. That means there are a lot of opportunities for him to produce a crooked number offensively and bury the opposition.

In the second and third games of the series, Suárez crushed three-run home runs to cap a four-run first. For context on how important it is to put up those crooked numbers early, the Cardinals scored seven runs for the entire series.

“Helping my team is my goal every day, come in here with the same mentality, play strong and stay strong, and not change anything. When I start thinking too much is when I get in trouble. I just try to make everything easy and go to the game with the same mentality: stay strong and do my best on the field.”

The combination of starting pitching and the big innings early allowed the D-backs to play downhill all series long against the Cardinals. They led for 26 of the 27 innings of the series, the only exception being the first inning of the first game, with a lead of no less than two runs at any point.

Corbin Carroll Eyes Franchise Mark for Triples

I don’t necessarily have a third narrative around the series, but psychologically speaking, three is a good number to have on breakdowns for some reason. So I thought I’d change it up and talk about a potential franchise record that could go down soon.

With three triples in the series, Corbin Carroll is at 13 for the season. Two of them led off the game. He’s closing in on the franchise mark of 14, set by Tony Womack in 1999 that he tied last season. With 62 games left in the season, it’s almost a sure bet he’ll hit at least 15. There are plenty of games left in the schedule that include big triples ballparks such as Chase Field, Coors Field, and Oracle Park in the division.

Interestingly enough, it’s been 10 seasons since the last time a player hit 15 triples in a season. The last player to reach that mark was outfielder Eddie Rosario, who did it for the Minnesota Twins in 2015. The last players to hit 20 triples in a season were both Curtis Granderson (23) and Jimmy Rollins (20) in 2007, with the latter named the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

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D-backs Under Review is Michael McDermott’s publication for deep analysis dives, game coverage, prospect coverage, and breaking down the biggest news topics involving the Arizona Diamondbacks. Michael has been writing about the D-backs since the 2015 season, with stops at AZ Snake Pit, Diamondbacks On SI, Venom Strikes, and Burn City Sports. He has covered over 40 MLB games at Chase Field and the Arizona Fall League.

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