The Arizona Diamondbacks enter the final game of a three-game series against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday after losing a golden opportunity to tighten the National League wild-card race.
Miami’s Ryan Gusto (1-5, 4.14 ERA) will oppose Merrill Kelly (9-13, 4.97 ERA) with the series on the line after Miami’s 4-2, 11-inning victory in Phoenix on Tuesday.
The Diamondbacks (80-72) remained 2 1/2 games behind San Diego (82-69) with 10 to play in the NL wild-card race. All three teams currently in wild-card spots — Chicago Cubs (84-68), Philadelphia (83-68) and San Diego — lost on Tuesday.
“You can’t do one damn thing about the past,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We let a game get away from us that I felt like we should have won. We have to look forward and keep pushing.”
The teams will look to regain the offensive form both showed in the Diamondbacks’ 8-7 win on Monday.
On Tuesday, Arizona left 15 runners on base, two in the ninth and two in the 10th, when they had a runner thrown out at the plate attempting to score from third on a grounder. They were 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
“If anything, it is easier to bounce back because there is more to fight for in a way,” Arizona right-hander Michael Soroka said. “It’s a little more real at this point.”
Arizona will turn to Kelly, who gave up only two hits and one run the last time out in a 9-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday, but he was pulled with one out in the fifth inning after giving up a walk, a hit batsman and an RBI double. The Diamondbacks’ bullpen finished with 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
“In years past, I think I would have been left in that situation,” a refreshingly candid Kelly said of his removal. “With what our bullpen has done this year, we want to get to it when we can, and I just don’t think I’ve earned it this year.
“I don’t think I’ve done what I need to do to earn those spots this year, and it’s unfortunate.”
Kelly has made nine quality starts this year. He held the Marlins to two runs in six innings June 11 but lost 2-0.
He is 1-5 with a 5.24 ERA in eight starts against the Marlins, the victory coming in one of three starts against them last year.
Gusto made a quality start his last time out, giving up two runs in six innings of a 6-2 home loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. That tied a season-long outing and was his second quality start.
He is vying to contend for a spot in the 2027 starting rotation.
“I definitely want to establish myself as a starter,” said Gusto, who has made 16 starts after being promoted from Triple-A Jacksonville in early June. “You want to be in the rotation. You want them to have confidence in you, and you want to bring competitiveness and doing your job to the table and let them know that you can do that.
“So it’s really cool for me to have had a good stretch of starts here, to have been doing well and seizing that opportunity. I think that we just have to keep capitalizing on the opportunities that I get.”
–Field Level Media
