How June Devastated the Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks went 14-11 over 25 games in the month of June this past season. And yet, it may have been the most devastating month of 2025.

As Arizona Diamondbacks On SI continues its journey through the rocky waters of the 2025 regular season, the D-backs sat four games below .500 (27-31) heading into June. While the record would improve, the hope for Arizona's season had never been lower.

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The D-backs had just come off a brutal 1-9 stretch. They began their June with a win over the Washington Nationals. But that win would prove the most costly so far.

Arizona Diamondbacks Devastated By June Injuries

The worst possible case scenario happened. Right-handed ace Corbin Burnes exited that June 1 contest after clearly suffering a severe elbow injury.

He would require Tommy John Surgery for the first time in his career and miss the rest of the 2025 season — a brutal beginning to a six-year, $210 million contract.

The D-backs would go on to win that game, and the next three following, sweeping the Atlanta Braves with a truly unbelievable ninth-inning comeback in the finale.

But then, the next blow would fall — one that carried severe implications. A rain-soaked June 6 game in Cincinnati played on, despite the conditions clearly being unfit.

The game, for some unknown reason, continued just long enough for the Reds to tie the score. In the process, right-hander Cristian Mena suffered a shoulder injury and Gabriel Moreno was struck on the hand with an ill-gripped pitch due to the conditions. Moreno would end up missing two months.

The game was eventually postponed, but Cincinnati finished their comeback in walk-off fashion the next day. Arizona would be swept, which forced them to surrender the eventual season-series tiebreaker to the Reds.

And yet, the adversity would not end there.

In the opener of a series with the Seattle Mariners just following that loss to the Reds, closer Justin Martinez exited with his own elbow injury, with two outs and two strikes, leading 4-0.

Arizona's bullpen would, somehow, squander the entire 4-0 score, leading to an extra-inning affair that ended in dramatic fashion, as Josh Naylor (the future Mariner) crushed a walk-off grand slam.

But the damage was done. The D-backs' closer would not return in 2025, and may not be back until the tail end of 2026.

Still, the D-backs put together a five-game win streak, including an incredible five-run ninth-inning walk-off comeback against their rival San Diego Padres.

That streak ended when interim closer Shelby Miller blew a save to the Blue Jays. Arizona would lose yet another key player one game later, as Corbin Carroll was struck by a pitch in the wrist, leading to a chip fracture that miraculously only held him out a pair of weeks.

Despite the adversity, D-backs went 10-3 from June 9-25, though they could not manage a sweep of the lowly White Sox or Rockies.

In the midst of that, they also lost Naylor to a (minor) shoulder issue and Ildemaro Vargas to a fractured foot. Arizona's decimated roster would lost four of their last five June games, sitting at 42-42 to end a brutal stretch of adversity.

It was truly remarkable to see so many key players lost in such a short time. Suddenly, serious questions began to arise as the All-Star Break (and subsequent trade deadline) grew closer. Was this a contending team? Would they be able to buy at the Deadline?

Only time would tell.

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