Sometimes baseball is a funny, cruel sport. In last night’s game, there were 28 hard-hit (95+ MPH exit velocity) balls in the game. Of those, 15 turned into a hit of some kind as the two teams combined for 11 runs, 21 hits, and 25 baserunners. What happens the very next day? A pitching duel of course, capped with a one-hit “complete game” from one of the starters and seven innings of three-hit ball from the other. If that kind of juxtaposition isn’t a perfect encapsulation of the magic of baseball, I don’t know what is. The only way it could have been better is if the D-Backs had managed to take the win and secure the sweep, but it was seemingly not in the cards for them today.

Brandon Pfaadt had a career night. That might sound simplistic, but it’s also accurate. So far in his career, he’s only pitched into the ninth inning once and he has just three career starts in which he’s allowed one or fewer hits. This afternoon though, the young Kentuckian was absolutely masterful. He was in complete control of all of his pitches and was able to combine his sinker and sweeper to devastating effect as they moved either in or away from the batter. As an aside, James McCann deserves a shoutout for calling an incredible game and supporting his pitcher throughout. The literal only blemish he had on his ledger was a one-out single to Drew Gilbert as the Giants’ offense was completely out of sorts as Pfaadt continued a hitless streak that Arizona pitching had stretching back to last night all the way out to 11.2 IP. All the offense had to do was scratch across one measly run to get him the win and secure the sweep, but alas that was too much.

It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying or lack of opportunity. Before hitting extra innings, the D-Backs had collected four hits and three walks, but never found the final clutch base hit – or even sacrifice fly – that could have ended a magical afternoon. The worst pain though came in the bottom of the ninth when Corbin Carroll roped a lifeless slider from Ryan Walker into the right field corner for a one-out triple ahead of Gabriel Moreno who was promptly intentionally walked. That decision brought Blaze Alexander – one of the hottest hitters in the lineup – to the plate needing just a sacrifice fly to walk off the Giants for a second straight night, but was instead plunked to load the bases for pinch hitter Adrian Del Castillo (for McCann). Unfortunately, that bet from Torey Lovullo didn’t pay off as Del Castillo harmlessly struckout on a nasty slider and Alek Thomas ended the inning on a weak groundout.

After being completely shutdown for 10 innings, the San Francisco offense finally woke up. The first four batters of the 11th reached on a walk, a pair of singles, and a double to score the first three runs of the game. They would add two more runs on a sac fly from Grant McCray and an RBI-single from Rafael Devers. John Curtiss, called upon to give the Arizona offense one final shot at a walkoff, just didn’t have it today. He had been one of the most consistent relievers out of the bullpen recently with a 1.54 ERA in 17 appearances since the beginning of August. Unfortunately, when you rely on the bullpen in high leverage situations, all it takes is one pitcher having a bad day to sink the entire effort.

In a vacuum, taking two out of three against a playoff-contending team like the Giants would be considered a success. For that matter, taking two out of three against basically any team would likely be considered a job well done. Of course, we’re not in a vacuum. Winning the series was an absolute minimum given where we are in the season and the relative playoff positioning of these two clubs – especially after losing the series up in San Francisco last week. But a series sweep would have given them a much-needed boost of confidence and momentum heading into an incredibly difficult stretch to end the season – consecutive series against the Phillies, Dodgers, and Padres. The team dug themselves such a deep hole earlier in the season that they were always going to need help from others to pull of a miraculous playoff appearance, but that obviously doesn’t mean they’re completely powerless to help themselves. If they find themselves sitting at home when October comes around, today’s game may go to the top of the very, very long list of winnable games that the team let slip away which could have been the difference. Let’s hope they won’t have time to ponder on them.