PHOENIX — The Cardinals went from being poised to take control of a game that would’ve clinch a series victory to abruptly having the rug yanked out from underneath them.
Missed opportunities, miscues on the bases and a pitch that perhaps shouldn’t have been thrown led to the Cardinals’ 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Saturday night. The loss evened the series at a game apiece and set up a rubber match Sunday afternoon.
All four Diamondbacks runs came against Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson (1-2), and three of the four runs came on one swing by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the bottom of sixth inning.
The home run has been a thorn in Gibson’s side in all three of his starts this season. Gibson, who signed with the Cardinals as a free agent this offseason, has allowed 13 runs this season, and 11 have scored via home runs.
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“It’s frustrating,†Gibson said. “Especially as a guy who I normally do a decent job of keeping the ball in the ballpark. So it’s frustrating to look back at outings and say, ‘Man, if you keep the ball in the ballpark it’s obviously a lot different.’
“So it’s something I’ll work on. Some of that is sequencing, location. Tonight, it wasn’t as much location. It was probably just pitch selection.â€
Gurriel’s home run broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth.
The Cardinals (7-8) trailed going into the fifth inning when Jordan Walker tripled on a ball hit into the left field corner. Walker’s last five hits have been extra-base hits, but he entered the day having gone 1 for 10 in his last three games.
Walker’s triple, the first extra-base hit of the day against Diamondbacks starting pitcher Ryne Nelson, set up an RBI single by Masyn Winn that tied the game.
Gibson retired the side in order in the bottom of the fifth as part of a stretch of 11 consecutive batters retired by him.
However, the Cardinals left the bases loaded in the sixth and squandered a chance to take the lead.
Paul Goldschmidt singled to start the sixth, and he advanced to third on a Nolan Gorman double that bounced over the outfield wall.
Goldschmidt got thrown out on Nolan Arenado's grounder to third base, but Goldschmidt stayed in a rundown long enough for Gorman to advance to third and Arenado to second.
Willson Contreras lined a ball to right field that Diamondbacks outfielder Jake McCarthy caught an estimated 272 feet away from home plate, but Gorman didn’t tag up on the play in enough time to try to score. He remained at third.
“It’s a contact play, so see him swinging so I’ve got to take some hard steps towards the plate so I can get there in case it’s a groundball,†Gorman said. “But once it’s in the air, you’ve got to do your best to get back. Those low line drives with those outfielders coming in, it’s tough. But you’ve just got to try to stop in your tracks and get back to the bag.â€
With two outs, the Diamondbacks walked Lars Nootbaar and chose to pitch to Walker with the bases loaded. Walker struck out swinging to end the inning with the score tied 1-1.
“We had a lot of opportunities,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “That’s probably the most frustrating part of tonight’s game, that we created some opportunities to get going offensively and we just didn’t come up with the big knocks. We made some mistakes on the bases that cost us as well. The combination of those two things are frustrating. But as far as creating opportunities, we definitely did that.â€
The frustration only grew in the bottom of the sixth when the Diamondbacks (7-8) pushed three runs across.
Ketel Marte doubled to start the inning, and Corbin Carroll walked to put two men on with no outs.
That’s when Gurriel stepped up to the plate and smacked a 2-1 sinker into the left field stands for a three-run home run.
“Obviously, worked out of some trouble in the first and had quite a few clean innings in the middle,†Gibson said. “Then, I mean I’d say I’d like one pitch back. But when I look back at it, I really can’t set it in a better place.
“I’m trying to get a double play there. Keep a ball on the ground. And I executed a ball down and in to a guy that I’ve thrown that pitch to him a decent amount of times in my career, and it hasn’t ended up like that.â€
Prior to the pitch, Gibson stepped off the mound after he shook off a pitch call from his catcher Contreras. Gibson then used the PitchCom system to signal to Contreras what pitch he wanted to throw. Gibson then threw his sinker about knee high and off the plate inside. Gurriel drove it to left with an exit velocity of 107.5 mph for his fourth homer of the season.
“There was a couple times where it just didn’t come through,†Gibson said of the PitchCom issue. “When Willie and I are on the same page and I’m really not shaking, it’s easy to forget where the pitch is on the transmitter. A couple times I had issues, I was trying to find whatever pitch I wanted and I kept hitting the wrong button.
“I had to step off because I just wasn’t finding the right pitch there. Willie called slider, and I wanted to throw a sinker. Sometimes you just have to say yes to your catcher and move on. He did a good job. He was right on there. I messed up and shook to the wrong pitch.â€
The Cardinals scored again in the eighth on a one-out RBI single by Lars Nootbaar (1 for 3) that drove in Arenado (1 for 4).
Contreras (2 for 4) also singled in that inning. He extended the longest on-base streak of his career to 19 consecutive games.
Goldschmidt (2 for 5) and Winn (2 for 4) each also had multi-hit games. The Cardinals had 11 hits, but they stranded nine men on base and went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position.