Rays walk-off ends Diamondbacks winning streak in painful, error-filled fashion

Heading into Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of Major League Baseball's hottest ball clubs, were riding a six-game winning streak. Torey Lovullo's ball club had just swept the Colorado Rockies just after taking three of four from the World Series contending Philadelphia Phillies.

That season-high winning-streak came to a halt in quite devastating style on Friday night in the series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The surging Corbin Carroll looked to have extended the contest after depositing two-run 389-foot shot over the right field wall in the bottom of the eighth inning. It wasn't off a sub-par arm either. Carroll knotted the contest at four off Pete Fairbanks, who had given up just two home runs in 44 games played in 2024. Extras looked to be inevitable.

Jake McCarthy's mishap in centerfield cost the D-Backs a seventh consecutive triumph

Justin Martinez, the 23-year-old D-Backs pitcher, took the mound aiming to force extra innings. After striking out two and walking Jonny DeLuca on four blazing 100 mph sinkers, he faced Brandon Lowe. On the second pitch, Lowe ripped a ground ball up the middle for a single. DeLuca, running on contact, initially aimed for third base. However, when centerfielder Jake McCarthy fumbled the pickup, DeLuca seized the opportunity, rounding third and scoring from first on what began as a mere single, dramatically ending the game.

It was McCarthy's first recorded error in centerfield of his big-league career. The Scranton, Pennsylvania native literally fumbled away a win.

To make it even more painful, Arizona came into this one with the lowest errors per game total in all of baseball in 2024 (0.37), per Team Rankings.

The triumph comes after the Rays were swept by the Houston Astros in St. Petersburg, a series in which Tamps scored only four runs across the three games.

In an ultra-competitive NL West, these defeats could be costly. It may be the difference between getting a bye for the Wild Card Round or playing a best of three series to punch a ticket into the NLDS. The Los Angeles Dodgers' narrow victory over the St. Louis Cardinals coupled with the loss in Florida means that Arizona fell further back of the division leader tonight.

Not only is it a tough pill to swallow due to the way it ended, but Arizona wasted another brilliant start from the 26-year-old former Cape Cod League All-Star, Ryne Nelson. Nelson pitched six or more innings for the sixth time in his last eight appearances for the D-Backs. He surrendered just one earned run on five hits while striking out six batters, five of whom fell victim to his four-seam fastball.

The teams face off again tomorrow at 4:10 p.m. ET in the second game of this three-game series. Arizona sends Zac Gallen to the mound, a promising sign for the D-Backs, who remain undefeated since the All-Star Break when the 29-year-old starts. Tampa Bay counters with Jeffrey Springs.