Diamondbacks Melt Down into Painful Extra-Inning Loss

The Arizona Diamondbacks lost to the Texas Rangers in ugly fashion to begin their three-game series, dropping game one by a score of 7-6 at Globe Life Field.

After rookie reliever Andrew Hoffmann threw an efficient, scoreless eighth inning to preserve a 6-5 lead, the Rangers would tie it in the ninth. Hoffmann served up a middle-middle changeup to Rowdy Tellez, who took it deep to right field.

The D-backs once again failed to plate the ghost runner in extras, and Texas walked off Andrew Saalfrank in the home half on an RBI single.

The D-backs fall to 57-62, while the Rangers, still in a playoff chase, improved to 61-59.

"This type of loss hurts," manager Torey Lovullo told D-backs.TV's Jody Jackson postgame.

"They continued to execute and we didn't. That's really the bottom line. You go to the bottom of the ninth of the lead, you want to hang on and win it."

Arizona Diamondbacks' Ryne Nelson Stumbles into Blowup Inning

Nelson looked to be in command for the early goings of the contest. Though it took him 23 pitches, he worked around a leadoff single with a four-pitch strikeout of former Diamondback Joc Pederson in the first inning.

He'd give up his first run on a pair of doubles in the third, but settled in to retire the next seven straight batters.

Unfortunately, trouble arose in the sixth, and Nelson wouldn't be able to work his way out of hit. He gave up a double, two singles and a three-run homer to Corey Seager, allowing the Rangers to pull within one at 6-5.

Nelson exited with one out in the inning sporting his worst pitching line since June 7 where he was knocked around for seven runs in four innings. His ERA inflates to 3.46.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Offense Crushes Nathan Eovaldi

Arizona's hitters were faced with a tough challenge. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi entered Monday's game with a 1.38 ERA over 19 starts.

But the D-backs got the scoring going early, as Tyler Locklear blasted a line drive homer to left field for a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

The rest of the lineup would begin to pile on the longball, as both Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo crushed homers of their own. Both would finish 2-for-5 with two RBI and a homer.

Locklear and Alek Thomas each had two hits, as did Jake McCarthy. Blaze Alexander stayed hot, hitting his third homer since taking over everyday third base duties.

The Diamondbacks will look to even the series on Tuesday, as Anthony DeSclafani will make his third start since entering the rotation full time.

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