The Arizona Diamondbacks officially have a crisis in the pitching department.
Aside from Patrick Corbin, Wade Miley, and just a couple guys in the bullpen, Diamondbacks pitchers are costing the team win after win, including last night's 13th-inning loss to the New York Mets at Citi Field.
Paul Goldschmidt (of course) got the scoring started in the first inning with a two-run homer, and Aaron Hill hit an RBI single in the second to move out to a 3-0 lead.
Wade Miley was almost as good as you could ask for, but when you get out of jams -- as Miley did -- it often means you're throwing a lot of pitches. Miley was pulled after 5 2/3 innings and 110 pitches, striking out seven, while giving up six hits and zero runs.
Then the bullpen gradually pissed it away.
Brad Ziegler did end the sixth inning with two of Miley's runners on base, but he gave up two hits and a walk in the seventh, including an RBI single to David Wright, who cut the Diamondbacks' lead to 3-1.
Heath Bell got out of the seventh, but David Hernandez struggled again in his role as the set-up man in the eighth inning. Hernandez gave up a lead-off triple to Omar Quintanilla, who ended up scoring after Eric Young Jr. doubled, decreasing the D-backs lead to 3-2.
In the ninth inning, J.J. Putz came in for his first save opportunity since returning from injury, and he blew his fifth save of the year. Putz gave up a near-homer to Marlon Byrd -- yes, the same Marlon Byrd who has yet to break 100 career home runs, here in his 12th MLB season -- but Byrd landed on second.
Josh Satin -- who's only in the majors because Ike Davis (a Scottsdale Chaparral High School and Arizona State University alumnus) is with the team's AAA affiliate due to hitting struggles -- hit in Byrd to tie the game at three.
The Diamondbacks only got one runner on in extra innings, until Cody Ross led off the top of the 13th with a homer. Earlier in the Diamondbacks season, that likely would have earned them a win. These games don't seem to go their way anymore.
Josh Collmenter, the long reliever -- but one of only two guys left in the bullpen at that point -- gave up a double to Satin with one out. Manager Kirk Gibson called for Buck to be walked, although "the book" says you don't put the winning run on base. The Mets were out of bench players, so sensation pitcher Matt Harvey sacrificed Satin to third. Gibson called for Quintanilla to be walked (causing a force at every base, plus, he's a lefty batter) to load the bases.
Andrew Brown, a minor-league-caliber outfielder for the Mets hitting .226 this year, singled to score the tying and game-winning runs.
The Diamondbacks are tied for the most blown saves in baseball, and have lost six of the seven games on this road trip, which still goes for three more games against the Mets. The Colorado Rockies are only 1 1/2 games back.
It has been almost a month since a Diamondbacks starter recorded a win. Sometimes, it's not the starter's fault (Patrick Corbin has given up either one or two runs in seven or eight full innings pitched in his last three starts), but sometimes it is (Trevor Cahill gave up 16 earned runs in his last two appearances, which lasted a combined 9 1/3 innings). Brandon McCarthy's injured. So is Cahill, and so is reliever Matt Reynolds. Daniel Hudson's out another year. Ian Kennedy, once a Cy Young candidate, is currently pitching like a candidate for the rotation of the AAA Reno Aces, and Miley's been knocked around more than a couple times this season.
Literally every team in the NL West is coming for them. If the Diamondbacks don't figure out how to work with this soon, they could be in last place in the division as early as Friday.
Send feedback and tips to the author.
Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.
