The Diamondbacks put on a defensive clinic in front of the 15,000 fans that came to the game.  Both teams allowed 0 runs through 9 innings, Zach Davies continued to his season long pitch of under 2 ERA, and Alek Thomas continued to make defensive plays of the year.

In this pitching duel, the Cincinnati pitcher Tyler Mahle put on an incredible pitching performance, pitching all 9 innings pitching 119 times.  For Arizona, Zach Davies pitched 7 innings and allowed 0 runs, which means through the last 20 innings he has only allowed one run.  Torrey Luvello even sent out the big guns to end this game, with Noe Ramirez and Joe Mantiply pitching the 8th and 9th inning allowing 0 runs.  Mantiply now has an ERA under .39 and still can’t buy a win this season.  The final score of 3-5 does not tell the whole story of the game, they fought very hard but sadly wasn’t enough.  With the direction of the Diamondbacks this season Joe Mantiply will give Arizona a lot of prospects at the trade deadline.

This game felt like the same story, just a different day.  Very stagnant hitting, great defense, and no depth at relief pitching.  Once Mantiply ended the 9th inning there was a feeling in the air that Arizona would lose because the pitching could not continue being as great.  The 11th inning brought some false hope for fans where Rojas was pitched two uncontrolled pitches by Kuhnel that allowed the Diamondbacks to tie the game with two players stealing home, but it was not enough. In the 12th inning the Reds scored 2 more runs and the Diamondbacks could not make up the difference.

Arizona had 41 attempts at the plate today and hit the ball 5 times!  How do you win a game when your DH is 0-5, your third baseman is 0-5, your catcher is batting under .100 on the season and goes 0-3 today.  The fact Arizona is okay with their offensive struggles tells me one of two things about this team: 1. They believe continuing to play “Go big or go home baseball” is good enough for them.  2. They don’t have much hope this season and will be big sell candidates at the trade deadline.