Diamondbacks comeback effort falls short in Friday night loss to Miami Marlins

It was a back-and-forth contest to start, although the Snakes found themselves playing catchup for most of Friday night’s matchup. The D-Backs took an early lead but fell by a score of 4-1. Merrill Kelly was visibly frustrated after a lackluster performance on Friday night. After what has been a marvelous season for Merrill, he has recently hit a little bit of a skid. Kelly was only able to pitch five innings, and he allowed five runs on six hits.

Arizona kept striking at the plate, as they were showing as much fight as they could. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jake McCarthy and Geraldo Perdomo had a pair of home runs that tied the game up 4-4. It didn’t last long though, as the D-Backs ended up losing the lead right back in the top of the sixth inning. After Miami kept their foot on the gas pedal, they found themselves with a 9-5 lead entering the bottom of the ninth inning.

The D-Backs came on late and had a run that looked like the Snakes were about to make a late game comeback. The bottom of the ninth inning saw the Diamondbacks have bases loaded with no outs, and after Arizona was able to bring it closer after Miami walked in a run. Ketel Marte stuck out for the first out, though Pavin Smith hit a single that scored two to bring the score to 9-8. Tim Tawa hit in Josh Naylor’s spot after an injury to Naylor, and hit a ground ball into a game-ending double play.

The Diamondbacks will look to build off their late-game momentum and tie the series up tomorrow on Saturday afternoon at Chase Field. The first pitch between the D-Backs and Marlins tomorrow is at 1:10 p.m. PT.