D-backs head to Marlins series with Marte on IL

ST. PETERSBURG -- Once again, you can’t predict baseball.

The D-backs opened the first leg of their three-city, nine-game road trip as the hottest team in the sport. They had won 30 of their previous 40 games, and it wasn’t like they were beating up on a bunch of also-rans. Arizona was victorious in series earlier this month against the first-place Phillies and Guardians. They had taken down the Dodgers, Braves and Padres, too.

The offense was clicking. The bullpen was strong. The starting pitching was deep. Surely they would keep right on rolling against a Rays team that entered this weekend having lost 10 of its past 13 games, right?

Not so much. The D-backs’ first venture to Tropicana Field since 2019 ended with them on the wrong side of a three-game sweep, which hasn’t happened to them since April 5-7 at Atlanta.

Sunday’s 8-7 defeat in 12 innings -- Arizona’s longest game of the season -- featured a few concerning developments. Arizona allowed a franchise-record seven stolen bases Sunday and 13 over the three-game series. Merrill Kelly, in his second start since returning from a right shoulder strain, was tagged for six runs on eight hits over five-plus innings. The offense, which had been so prolific over that 40-game stretch, was no-hit into the seventh inning by Rays pitchers.

But as the D-backs prepare for a three-game series against the Marlins, nothing is more important than the status of their lineup leader, Ketel Marte.

The All-Star second baseman aggravated the left ankle sprain that he sustained last week during a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth inning Sunday. As he checked his swing on a 1-0 pitch from Rays reliever Pete Fairbanks, Marte collapsed to the ground in a seated position in the left-handed batter’s box. He stayed down for a few moments and punched the ground with his right fist before trying to get back to his feet.

Once upright, Marte struggled to put weight on his left leg and hobbled gingerly toward Arizona’s dugout with the help of a trainer.

A day later, Marte was placed on the 10-day injured list, and infielder Pavin Smith was recalled from Triple-A Reno.

“It didn’t look great,” manager Torey Lovullo said on Sunday. “It's tough to take your best player off the field like that. But he was very eager to play. He was excited to play. He creates a lot of force when he pushes off the ground. He’s a very strong man, and he's a great hitter because of that force."

Marte hasn’t been 100% since he initially suffered the injury on Aug. 10. After being held out of four of the team’s next five games, Marte returned to Arizona’s lineup as the designated hitter Saturday and went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk in a 6-1 defeat.

Marte, who has 30 homers on the year and ranks fourth in the National League with 5.4 fWAR, was kept out of Sunday’s starting lineup as part of the D-backs’ plan to not push him too much. But he told his skipper during the middle of Sunday’s game that he wanted an opportunity to help the team win today.

“I felt strongly about that,” Lovullo said. “It was checked off by the medical team. It just was unfortunate.”

The D-backs went 3-1 in the four games Marte missed this week. But his importance to this team can’t be overstated.

“He posts every day and plays through a lot of stuff,” designated hitter Joc Pederson said. “He's been a catalyst for this team, for this offense, defense, all around, playing like an MVP-caliber player. So, you never like to see that.

“But he's picked us up all year. Now it's our time to pick him up and carry the weight until he's able to get back with us.”