As his teammates filed out of the dugout after the Diamondbacks‘ latest loss, third baseman Eugenio Suarez lingered, leaning over the railing, staring onto the field. An hour later, pitcher Zac Gallen made his way back, sat on a dugout bench and took what might be one last look.

If there were any uncertainty about what direction the front office would take into next week’s trade deadline, the Diamondbacks seemed to remove all doubt with their play the past three days.

Their 4-3 loss on Wednesday afternoon, July 23, completed a three-game sweep by the Houston Astros — and likely pushed the Diamondbacks fully into the seller’s camp as they creep closer to July 31.

After showing signs of life during a weekend sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Diamondbacks did what they have done for much of the season: squandered what little momentum they had.

They continue to look like little more than a .500 team — and, for now, at 50-53, they aren’t even that.

It likely will leave GM Mike Hazen and his staff with little choice but to sell, particularly if they can get back good value for their many rental players, Suarez and Gallen among them.

“I wish we had done more in this series,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “Like I’ve been saying to you, our team doing what we’re doing isn’t anything that I thought we would be doing, especially after winning three games against the St. Louis Cardinals. It stinks. We put ourselves in this position and can’t do anything about it. We’ve got to keep fighting.”

With rival scouts continuing to swarm Chase Field, the Diamondbacks played a sloppy game in the series finale. Geraldo Perdomo ran into an out at third base and booted a routine ground ball at short. Josh Naylor inexplicably came off the bag at first base, costing the Diamondbacks a key out.

The offense was mostly held in check for a third consecutive day, leaving Lovullo questioning his hitters’ approaches. And there was another questionable decision by third-base coach Shaun Larkin, who put up a surprising stop sign late in the game.

“I think we put ourselves in a lot of positions to win the last three games and it just didn’t go in our favor,” said Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who was charged with two runs in 5 1/3 innings. “We haven’t lost hope. We haven’t lost that drive to keep going. I think this road trip will be a big testament to that.”

About five minutes after Gallen was spotted in the dugout, the Diamondbacks were set to embark for Pittsburgh, the first stop on a three-city road trip that continues in Detroit and Sacramento.

As they departed, their playoff odds stood at 10.7 percent, per FanGraphs. They are 5 1/2 games back with four teams ahead of them for the third and final wild-card spot. Perhaps just as telling: They are tied in the loss column with the rebuilding Miami Marlins, who are 48-53.

The Diamondbacks trailed, 3-1, before rallying for two runs in the bottom of the eighth, getting hits from Perdomo (double), Ketel Marte (single) and Corbin Carroll (double) to open the inning and score a run. Naylor dumped a single into no-man’s land later in the inning to tie the game at 3.

But the Astros opened the top of the ninth with back-to-back bunt singles. On the second one, by Taylor Trammell, right-hander Kevin Ginkel threw to first, where Naylor came off the base early.

“I tried to call it off, like, ‘Don’t even throw it,’ just because it was way too close,” Naylor said. “Like an ‘eat it’ situation. Once I did that, once I saw him throw, I was expecting a throw offline. It was a good throw, but I just wanted to make sure I was in a good enough position to block it. That was really it.”

Naylor was asked if he wished he could have the play back since replays showed Trammell would have been out.

“Maybe,” Naylor said. “I made that decision and I’ve got to live or die with it.”

The Astros cashed in two batters later when former Diamondbacks slugger Christian Walker grounded a run-scoring single into center field.

The Diamondbacks put the tying run on base with two outs in the ninth, but Astros closer Josh Hader received a generous third-strike call on Ketel Marte to end the game.

—Nick Piecoro

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo’s faith in his team’s resilience and ability to get on a winning run is unshakeable as the Major League Baseball trade deadline looms.

Knowing the front office could move several players before the deadline and change the roster, Lovullo hopes to keep the current group together. But the idea that players widely viewed as trade candidates — such as All-Star third baseman Eugenio Suarez and longtime starting pitcher Zac Gallen — could be playing their final games at Chase Field on July 23, did cross Lovullo’s mind prior to the day’s game.

The Diamondbacks start a nine-game road trip on July 25 in Pittsburgh and won’t be back home until after the trade deadline.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s kinda weird. I might say goodbye to some players on the road and I’ll never see them back in this clubhouse again,'” Lovullo said. “It initially grabs you and postures you a little bit, but we’ve been hardened by this game and we know that that’s a possibility and we figure a way out of it. We’ll be fine no matter what happens.”

Lovullo draws hope for a good run from knowing that injured players will be back, some sooner rather than later. Relievers Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks are throwing to hitters as they work toward their returns, DH/1B Pavin Smith is beginning light baseball activity and catcher Gabriel Moreno is catching bullpen sessions after more than a month out with a hand fracture.

“I keep talking about that all the time. I just want to stay in the fight,” Lovullo said. “We’re banged up and we’re hurt, and you can see some of the challenges that we have every single night. We’re doing our best to overcome them. Once they come back, who knows what could happen? We’ve been in this position before and I think we’ll be OK. At the end of the day, we’re going to be just fine as long as we play the best that we can every single day.”

-José M. Romero

Lovullo: 9th-inning stop sign was right call

Having looked back at the play a day later, Lovullo said he agreed with the decision by Diamondbacks third-base coach Shaun Larkin to hold Josh Naylor at third on a single to center in the ninth inning on July 22.

The decision by Larkin was immediately second-guessed since the throw from center fielder Mauricio Dubon went to third, not home — and because base runner Jake McCarthy, who started the play on first, was halfway to third and had to retreat to second.

Lovullo said the way he saw it, Naylor was 5 to 7 feet from third base when Dubon got the ball.

“The timing was a little bit risky,” Lovullo said. “In that situation, we don’t want to take a huge risk. (Naylor is) the second run, not the tying run.

“In my opinion, I thought he made the right call. Dubon uncorks one and makes a perfect throw home, he might be out, and we can’t deal with the maybes in those situations. It’s got to be 100 percent certain. I feel like we made the right call. It just looked a lot worse because the ball was thrown to third base.”

Had Naylor scored and McCarthy gone to third, the Diamondbacks would have had the tying run at third with nobody out.

Despite having the bases loaded with nobody out, the Diamondbacks wound up losing, 3-1, after Blaze Alexander struck out and Jose Herrera bounced into a game-ending double play.

—Nick Piecoro

Coming up

July 24: Off day.

July 25: At PNC Park, 3:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (6-2, 3.52) vs. Pirates RHP Mike Burrows (1-3, 4.70).

July 26: At PNC Park, 3:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (9-5, 3.32) vs. Pirates LHP Andrew Heaney (4-9, 5.03).

July 27: At PNC Park, 10:35 a.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (7-11, 5.58) vs. Pirates RHP Paul Skenes (5-8, 1.91).

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

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