I’m calling it now: this is a bad night that matters. Not just because the Arizona Diamondbacks lost 5-2 to the Kansas City Royals, but because the loss shoved them a half-game behind the San Diego Padres for the final wild-card spot, according to azcentral.com. That is the kind of swing that turns every quiet inning into a problem and every missing bat into a bigger one.

And yes, the offense is the issue. Torey Lovullo tried to talk himself into the idea that wins are wins and that this can feel like playoff baseball, but the result Wednesday night, Sept. 9, said something louder. The Diamondbacks did not slug. They did not stack key hits. They barely scored early. That is not a recipe. That is a warning siren.

The pitching returnees did not exactly slam the door, either. azcentral.com reported that right-handers Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka both came off the injured list, and neither was especially sharp. Gallen allowed two runs, one earned, in 3 1/3 innings. Soroka worked four innings and gave up the three-run homer to Bobby Witt Jr. that ended up being the difference. That’s the whole story right there. A team trying to hang in the race cannot afford that kind of margin.

Then there’s Corbin Carroll. That part is the real gut punch. Carroll missed his third straight game and was scheduled for an MRI on his lower back on the team’s off day Thursday, Sept. 10, per azcentral.com. He said he felt OK and sounded hopeful about getting back soon, but he also said the back has been bothering him longer than this week. He pointed back to the team’s series in Mexico City against the Padres on April 25-26 as a time when it first flared up. That is not nothing. That is a star hitter carrying something around for months.

So here’s my take: the standings loss is bad, but the Carroll news is what makes it feel heavier. A half-game in September is a razor-thin thing. Lose it, and suddenly every missed opportunity looks enormous. Lose your top hitters for even a few days, and the margin gets even thinner. That’s where the Diamondbacks are now — right on the edge, with no room for a sleepy offense and no room for bad health luck.

Lovullo said, “We’ll figure that out. We’ve got to.” He’s right. They do. Fast.

— Stephen A. Spliff