Woof, talk about a tough one to swallow. The Arizona Diamondbacks played a tight game against the St. Louis Cardinals last night, July 17, 2026, at Chase Field, but it was their own mistakes that absolutely doomed them in the end. This was one of those games where every little blunder felt magnified, and the Cards capitalized big time.
Early Blunders Set the Tone
Things got messy right from the jump in the first inning. Ketel Marte got hit with a tough error, letting a grounder roll right through his feet. Initially, you’re thinking, “C’mon, man, easy play!” But replay showed Merrill actually deflected the ball just enough to cross Ketel up. Still, a tough break that gifted the Cardinals some early momentum. Then, Gabi pulled a classic move: challenging a called Ball 4 with the bases loaded and one out. It got turned into a Strike 3. Ouch. The Cardinals immediately snagged an RBI single right after that, and just like that, the D-backs were already down. Shoutout to Tim Tawa, though, who made an incredible diving catch in center to end the first and keep the lead at a manageable 2-0. Merrill had a wild first inning, too; one sarcastic comment noted he was on pace for a 27-pitch game, but he took *another* 27 pitches just to get out of the first. Yikes.
Small Victories and Crushing Letdowns
The middle innings saw some flashes of brilliance mixed with more head-scratchers. Max Kepler pulled off a surprise bunt for a base hit in the second, a true beauty perfectly parallel with the third baseline, putting runners on first and second with no outs. He followed that up in the fourth with more fantastic situational hitting, yanking a grounder towards second to ensure Gabi got to third with less than two outs. That’s smart baseball! But then Lourdes Gurriel undid that good deed, weakly grounding out to shortstop. You just can’t do that. Arenado made a strong effort to shoot a single through the hole, but Masyn Winn for the Cardinals made an absolutely elite diving stop and throw to get the third out, helped a bit by Arenado’s “glacial foot speed.” Later, Taylor Clarke had some seriously bad luck in the sixth; he got two groundballs with a runner at first, but both were hit too slowly for the D-backs to turn a double play. At least Ketel Marte made another elite diving play in that inning, shoveling the ball to Domo for the third out. But then Gurriel got caught watching a middle-middle fastball go by for a strikeout to end the sixth. When you’re slumping, you either swing at everything or watch the easy ones, huh?
Late-Game Heartbreak
The seventh inning gave us a moment of pure hustle from Ildemaro Vargas, who turned second and just kept chugging for third on a triple. At first, you think, “Mistake! He’s dead!” But nope, the relay throw was nowhere close. Awesome! Unfortunately, the Cardinals found another run in the eighth thanks to a wild pitch by Morillo. Gabi then got beat by a pitch in the dirt that skidded instead of bouncing, allowing runners to advance. A sacrifice fly later, and the Cards extended their lead. But hold up, Corbin delivered a massive, game-tying homer, a line drive that just scraped above the fence and hit off the right field foul pole netting! Absolute bomb! Just when you think they’ve clawed their way back, the ninth inning starts and Sewald misplays a grounder right back up the box, leading off with an infield single. Ugh. That’s how a tight game gets away from you. The D-backs just couldn’t get out of their own way.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
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