Diamondbacks have really struggled with closing out the few sweep opportunities that have been presented to them. Today could have marked the first sweep of the Nationals in Arizona in baseball history, but they failed to sweep the 31-65 Washington Nationals.  Every time the opportunity rears its head the Diamondbacks can’t pitch efficiently.  Today the struggling pitcher was Corbin Martin.

After the All-Star break it appeared that maybe the pitching was back to the high level they started the year with.  Zac Gallen pitched 7 innings with 0 earned runs and 2 hits the first game, and then Mad-Bum pitched 8 innings allowing 4 hits and 2 runs giving the relievers an extra long break.  This game featured Corbin Martin who pitched a full 4 innings allowing 4 hits, 5 walks, and one earned run.  The Diamondbacks should consider themselves lucky only allowing 1 run because of two great sliding catches by Thomas and a miraculous catch by Walker or else it would’ve been 3 more scores minimum.  If Arizona wants to stand a chance late in the season for a wildcard spot which is getting harder and harder to do than they need more pitching, both relief pitchers and another starter.  The top 3 pitchers for the D-backs are amazing being Mad-Bum, Gallen, and Davies but they can’t pitch every game.

On top of pitching the Serpentines need more power hitting also.  It would be nice if they had a high average hitter that can hit bombs out of the park, someone like Paul Goldsmhidt but we all remember that trade a few years back and now we have Christian walker who is an all or nothing hitter, and they need another home run hitter.  Arizona has been trying to play small ball all year and to their credit sometimes it works but other times like today you leave 13 players stranded on base and lose because no one takes the ball the distance.  

Arizona was finally gaining momentum it felt like and losing a game this way, being up a majority of the game and then going stagnant to lose at home might kill that momentum early.  With August 2nd coming up (the trade deadline) the Diamondbacks are more than likely officially in the sell candidate column once again proving to be a disappointing season.  The only silver lining to this season is last year they only won 52 games and this year they have won 42 within 97 games so the future appears much brighter than it appeared last year with rising stars Thomas, Varsho, and Mccarthy entering the helm.