Recaps

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks swept by Cardinals, finish 1-5 on brutal road trip – The ball was smashed on one-hop toward Ketel Marte on Sunday afternoon, May 25, and the Diamondbacks’ second baseman went to his backhand. The shot skipped up to eye-level with Marte, who tried to snatch it and spin in one motion. It ricocheted off his glove and into right field for a go-ahead single. The play might have been the difference in the Diamondbacks’ 4-3 loss as the St. Louis Cardinals completed a three-game sweep at Busch Stadium. It was not so much that Marte should have made it, just more that he could have and didn’t — a theme of sorts on their just-completed road trip.

[Arizona Sports] Diamondbacks swept by Cardinals with 3 losses by 1 run – Phil Maton entered the ninth inning to close it out, as Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley had pitched in the previous two games. Alek Thomas led off the inning with a double away from the shift down the third-base line. Geraldo Perdomo squared around to bunt but was hit by a pitch instead, setting up the top of the lineup with two on and nobody out. Corbin Carroll struck out in an 0-for-5 performance — he went 3-for-22 on the six-game road trip. Marte popped out to foul ground, as Arenado sacrificed his body by crashing into the netting and landing hard on the seats to make the catch. Marte is 2-for-23 this year with runners in scoring position.

[Dbacks.com] ‘Tough to stomach’: D-backs on wrong side of one-run game yet again – “We’re all extremely frustrated,” Lovullo said. “I think when you get into that state of mind, you want to be the guy, you want to say, ‘I’m the one that’s going to get this one to turn for this group,’ and you get outside of yourself a little bit, you don’t stay with your approach. You know, it’s just a good lesson in being yourself at all times and going out there and trying to execute pitch by pitch, at-bat by at-bat.” Pfaadt said the team needs to turn the page. “We’ve lost a lot of close ballgames. … Go back home, turn things around and start winning those games and get right back on top,” Pfaadt said. “So, it’s a tough pill to swallow on this road trip, but I think [if] we get home and turn things around, we’ll be just right where we need to.”

Arizona team news

[SI] Paul Skenes and the Pirates are Coming to Chase Field this Week – That’s not to say that the D-backs haven’t brought many of their troubles upon themselves on the way to a 26-27 record. Their play has been inconsistent, and often out of sync. When they hit, they don’t pitch. When they pitch they don’t hit. One of the best defensive teams over the years has had difficulty making plays when it matters most. Now they’re licking their wounds following a three game sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals. That’s dropped them four games behind the San Diego Padres and those same Cardinals for the third Wild Card spot. They’re also six games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, in fourth place in the NL West.

[Sportskeeda] $13.5M Diamondbacks ace opens up about fiancée’s role in impending free agency decision – “I had a conversation with my fiancée before the season started, and I asked her to put a list together of some things that she selfishly wanted, things she wanted for us, and then things she didn’t want,” Gallen said. “That way, we could kind of compare notes about what that looks like for us going forward, as opposed to getting caught off guard — like, okay, X team has an offer, but they don’t have the things we’re necessarily looking for.”

[Tucson.com] ‘Truly historic milestone’: Pro baseball team from Mexico moving to Tucson – Tucson is about to become the home of a professional baseball franchise for the first time in over a decade. Mayos de Navojoa, a member of the Mexican Pacific Winter League, are moving to Tucson, league and team officials announced Tuesday. The Mexican Pacific Winter League — also known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico, or LAMP — consists of 10 teams. They play a 68-game schedule from mid-October through late January. The Mayos are expected to be rebranded and renamed. They will play their games at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, starting this fall.

And, elsewhere…

[MLB] Crushed! 10 seasons in, here are Statcast’s hardest-hit balls – Hardest-hit out/double play ball: 122.2 mph, Giancarlo Stanton, Aug. 9, 2021, at KC. Talk about bad luck. Only two players (Stanton and Cruz) have hit balls tracked at 122.2 mph or faster, and for such a hard-hit ball to turn into a double play requires some misfortune. Stanton found out the hard way at Kauffman Stadium when Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield snagged the sizzling one-hopper off the side of the pitcher’s mound and started a 4-6-3 twin killing. It was a considerably different fate than Stanton’s previous 122.2 mph result while with the Marlins in 2017 — a remarkably similar batted ball that beat the shift for a single.

[ESPN] Tigers ace Tarik Skubal throws 1st CG of MLB career, K’s 13 – “Little teary-eyed out there, honestly, before the inning started,” Skubal said Sunday. “It was pretty cool. I just thought to myself, ’12-year-old me wouldn’t believe that was an opportunity to have the fan base support you the way it does and be in that moment.’ “It was pretty special.” Indeed. Skubal gave up two hits and matched a career high with 13 strikeouts and no walks in his first professional complete game, a 5-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians that avoided a four-game sweep. He ended the game by striking out Gabriel Arias on a 102.6 mph four-seam fastball, the fastest strikeout pitch by a starting pitcher since pitch-tracking started in 1988.

[USA Today] MLB awards at Memorial Day: Handing out baseball’s superlatives so far – Most pink-slipped player: Mariners 37-year-old pitcher Casey Lawrence has been designated for assignment five times already this season, including four times by the Seattle Mariners and one by the Toronto Blue Jays. He can be found these days back at Class AAA Tacoma where he’s basically the 41st man on a 40-man roster.