NEW YORK -- This one stung.
None of the nine losses the D-backs have experienced over the past 10 games have been pleasant, but Saturday night's 5-4 defeat at the hands at the Mets at Citi Field was particularly bad because of how it transpired.
The offense had shown signs of life in building a 4-2 lead through seven innings, and with setup man Archie Bradley starting the eighth and closer Brad Boxberger set for the ninth, things looked good.
And then in the blink of an eye, things turned.
Jay Bruce led off the eighth with a single, Devin Mesoraco followed with a two-run homer and suddenly the Mets had tied the game -- and they would go on to win in the ninth.
Two appearances ago, Bradley gave up a tiebreaking two-run homer. That one was by the Nationals' Mark Reynolds.
"This one, given the last week, we really wanted to come in and shut this one down," Bradley said. "Get the ball to Box and get a win and look to win a series tomorrow. We didn't get it done. You can put it on me. I'll take responsibility right now. We've got to keep trucking. We've got to keep fighting."
The D-backs won't have a long time to lick their wounds as they close out the three-game series with a day game Sunday.
"What it shows is Archie is human, and despite what he's going through right now, we're going to fight together as a team, we're going to walk through this together as a team and be ready for tomorrow," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said.

A little more than two weeks ago, the D-backs were riding atop the National League West with a comfortable six-game lead.
After Saturday, though, they lead the Rockies by just a half-game and the Giants by three.
"I mean, obviously that loss hurt and it's frustrating," Bradley said. "But no one's freaking out. No one's panicking. We all understand we have a really good team. We have really good players. We have a great coaching staff. Everything we're doing is the same thing we were doing when we were winning games. We're just not executing in those big situations like we were before, tonight being a perfect example. We're preparing. We're ready to go. We're just not seeing the results."
Even after the Mesoraco homer, the D-backs still had a chance, but left-hander Andrew Chafin allowed a double to open the ninth, followed by a bunt single and a game-winning sacrifice fly by Wilmer Flores.

"Strike him out is obviously the main goal there," Chafin said of the Flores at-bat. "I threw a slider that he hit the sac fly on -- it was down but it wasn't down far enough. He was able to stay back on it and get the bat out and put it in play."
MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Leaving him out there: The D-backs missed a chance to tack on a run in the eighth when with one out, Chris Owings reached on a bunt single. After Paul Goldschmidt struck out, Owings stole second and moved to third on a throwing error by Mesoraco with Ketel Marte at the plate. But Mets right-hander AJ Ramos struck out Marte to end the inning.

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Entering the game, Goldschmidt was hitting just .085 (5-for-59) in May and he was coming off an 0-for-4 performance with four strikeouts Friday night, just the fourth time in his career he had done that. After running the count to 1-1 in the fourth inning against Mets lefty Steven Matz, Goldschmidt hit a 93-mph fastball to left for a homer, his first since April 15.
"It's a nice feeling to see him snap out of it and hit a big home run for us," Lovullo said. "It was a nice sign for him, but I know he's going to say it [only] tied the game. I know that's a very humble Paul, but it was a good pass and he's working hard to get there."

MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Prior to John Ryan Murphy's two-run homer in the fourth, Jarrod Dyson stole second and third base. On the steal of second it looked like he might have been out. Mets manager Mickey Callaway issued a challenge, and after a replay review, it was determined the call would stand, which meant there was not enough visual evidence to confirm or overturn the call. Had the call been reversed, the inning would have been over. Instead, Murphy's homer gave Arizona a 4-2 lead.

"That was a weird at-bat because I had a big waiting period in between pitches when the replay happened with Dyson at second base," Murphy said. "Once that call goes our way, Dyson is in scoring position, so my job is to get a base hit if I can. I'm not really thinking homer there, but got into a 3-2 count and had the pitcher on-deck and thought he might go to that changeup, and I got him."

UP NEXT
Clay Buchholz will make his first big league start since April 11, 2017, when he gets the ball for his D-backs debut in Sunday afternoon's finale of a three-game set with the Mets at Citi Field. Buchholz began the season with the Royals' Triple-A team in Omaha before opting out of his contract at the beginning of May. The D-backs signed him to a Minor League deal on May 5 and he made two starts for Triple-A Reno, going 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA. Noah Syndergaard will start for the Mets, and first pitch is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. MST.