A rough night in downtown Phoenix
If you were hoping for a clean, crisp Diamondbacks win on Monday night, Aug. 24, that wasn’t the script. According to José M. Romero at AZ Central, the D-backs showed some fight, but a dugout spat ended up drawing a lot of the attention in a 7-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field.
The baseball part of the story was pretty one-sided, too. Romero reported that the Cubs scored three times off Merrill Kelly in 5 2/3 innings, then broke things open with back-to-back homers in the sixth off Taylor Clarke. Over at Arizona Sports, Alex Weiner wrote that Chicago has had Arizona’s number this season, with the Cubs winning all four meetings so far.
Kevin Gausman was a big reason why. Weiner noted that the veteran right-hander, who came over from Toronto, threw seven shutout innings and allowed just three hits. Arizona’s offense never really found a rhythm against him, and Weiner said the Diamondbacks failed to put multiple base runners on against Gausman in any inning.
More than one storyline
There was still plenty going on beyond the final score. Romero’s AZ Central recap said much of the Diamondbacks’ energy seemed to be spent on a dugout spat that appeared to be directed toward Cubs third base coach Quintin Berry. That kind of night can leave a team with a lot to sort through after the last out, especially when the bats go quiet.
There were also a couple of longer-view notes in the Yahoo roundup worth watching. Alex D’Agostino of SI wrote that manager Torey Lovullo sounded optimistic Michael Soroka could potentially return after the minimum stint, with a possible timeline around Sept. 7 if things stay on track. Lovullo said the plan is to get Soroka a couple days down, get him back on the bump, and miss as few days as possible.
And then there’s Ketel Marte. Arizona Sports’ Alex Weiner reported that Lovullo has spoken with players in the clubhouse about Marte’s situation, while also keeping those conversations private. Lovullo said the team is trying to create the softest space for Marte to re-emerge, and that the decision is up to him.
So yes, Monday was a shutout loss. But it also felt like one of those nights when the box score is only part of the picture, and the rest of the week may tell us a lot about where this clubhouse goes next.
