Fading from early surge, D-backs seek 'sustainable success'

DENVER -- Following their loss to the Padres last Friday in Phoenix, their ninth consecutive defeat and their 25th in 32 games, the D-backs were summoned to a team meeting by manager Torey Lovullo.

He had “had enough,” as he put it to reporters, of the poor play that had dropped a young and exciting team with a surprising three-game cushion atop the National League West down to third place, 13 games behind the division-leading Dodgers.

Lovullo’s club responded with consecutive victories over San Diego to end its homestand on a high note as it looked forward to a trip to the hitter’s haven of Coors Field against the team with the worst record in the NL, the Rockies.

But what Monday night’s deflating 6-4 loss to Colorado demonstrated was that Arizona’s most glaring flaws over the past six weeks -- a lack of punch from the lineup and an unreliable relief corps -- remain sore spots as another page came off the calendar in mid-August.

The word that was used most prominently around the D-backs’ clubhouse both before and after the game was “dynamic” -- this is a team that has lost a certain dynamism, a flair for the dramatic in young power and speed led by NL Rookie of the Year favorite Corbin Carroll and backed up with a similar youthful vigor from others.

“Effectively, that was Torey’s message,” said Christian Walker, who produced most of Arizona’s offense Monday with an RBI double in the first inning and a two-run homer in the sixth. “It was, ‘Look yourself in the mirror, figure out what you do well and what value you bring to this team and do that every day to the best of your ability.’ It’s simple.”

It’s simple, indeed. In theory.

In practice, it’s proven difficult, and Monday’s contest was a case in point. Outside of Walker, the lineup was quiet, mustering just three hits, including a Gabriel Moreno RBI double in the second. And after starter Merrill Kelly gave the D-backs another six strong innings, the bullpen couldn’t hold a late 4-2 lead.

Kelly was excellent, yielding two runs on five hits, walking one and striking out a season-high 11. Since returning from the injured list on July 25 after recovering from a blood clot in his right leg, he has a 2.48 ERA over five starts.

The right-hander’s pitch count was 92 after six innings, but given that Kelly had cramping in his right leg during his previous start, and that he was now pitching in the mile-high altitude of Denver, Lovullo went to his bullpen.

Miguel Castro pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, but in the eighth, Joe Mantiply got himself into immediate trouble by giving up consecutive singles to Charlie Blackmon, Ezequiel Tovar and Ryan McMahon to load the bases.

Scott McGough came into the game and got Elias Díaz to line out to shortstop, but he then surrendered back-to-back singles by Brendan Rodgers and Nolan Jones. The Rockies capped the decisive four-run frame when pinch-hitter Alan Trejo delivered another RBI single, this one against reliever Kyle Nelson.

With the loss, Arizona lost ground in the standings, falling to 3 1/2 games behind the Marlins for the final NL Wild Card position.

“With where we’re at in the season, we’ve got to win a lot of baseball games,” Lovullo said. “And when we let one slip away like this, it hurts.”

Of particular concern for a team as young as the D-backs is how some of the more inexperienced players will react as they watch more than just a single game slip away. If something doesn’t change quickly, a season that was brimming with promise just weeks ago may slip away as well.

But with this group, Walker doesn’t think that will be a problem.

“I don’t feel a bogged-down energy,” said the nine-year veteran. “When everybody’s cruising, it’s easy to find your identity. It’s almost like this is a test. I’m looking forward to the challenge of figuring out who we are.”

The D-backs will have to figure it out quickly if they want to make 2023 more than a flash in the pan. A rediscovery of the dynamic flourish with which they surged to the top of the NL West in June will need to happen fast.

“We’re not after the flash,” Walker said. “I think the group of guys in here, we can win postseason games. [In the first half of the season] we were dynamic -- we have speed, we have some slug. … There is a real belief that there’s sustainable success in this room.”