Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo’s instincts were telling him to take a couple of steps to his left in the ninth inning on Thursday afternoon. Usually, he says, his instincts are right. And usually he listens to them. But for whatever reason he stayed where he was, and he thinks it might have cost the Arizona Diamondbacks the game.
Jose Iglesias grounded a single off the glove of a diving Perdomo, driving home the go-ahead run in the New York Mets’ 3-2 win over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Had he moved to his left, he has no doubt he would have made the play.
“Right before those last two pitches, something told me to move to the left side,” Perdomo said. “I don’t know why I didn’t. That’s why I told a couple of my teammates that it was on me.”
It made for a sort of stunning finish to a game and a series for the Diamondbacks. For the better part of the past two months, they have found ways to win close games late. They also have found ways to win series. This time, however, they could not.
It goes down as just their second loss in their past 10 one-run games and drops them to 12-2 in their past 14 series. Whether it will cost them in the standings remains to be seen. The first-place Los Angeles Dodgers were scheduled to wrap up their series against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.
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It was a surprising game, too, in that the Diamondbacks, who rarely beat themselves, made a trio of mistakes on the bases, twice getting picked off first base by Mets lefty David Peterson before running into another out caught stealing in the eighth inning.
“We gave them an inning’s worth of outs on the bases,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We traditionally don’t do that. But it happened and it could have been the difference in the game. We’ve got to make some adjustments.”
Lovullo took the blame for the caught stealing in the eighth. With a 3-1 count on Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Lovullo fully expected Mets reliever Jose Butto to go to his fastball, and he expected Gurriel to put it in play. Instead, Butto went to his slider, freezing Gurriel and leaving the slow-footed Joc Pederson hung out to dry at second.
“I just wanted to create some action,” Lovullo said. He later added: “The last pitch I thought he was going to throw was the pitch that he threw.”
Right-hander Ryne Nelson gave the Diamondbacks his fifth quality start in his past six outings, allowing just two runs in 6⅓ innings. He was handed a lead thanks to a two-run homer by Randal Grichuk in the third, but the Mets’ Francisco Lindor evened the score by prevailing in an 11-pitch at-bat to lead off the sixth.
Lindor fouled off four consecutive full-count pitches before launching a change-up into the right-field seats for a game-tying solo homer.
“I think there was some pitches where I didn’t quite hit my spot and we could have been out of that a little quicker and eventually not ended up giving (up) the homer,” Nelson said. “We were trying to go fastball down and away a couple of times maybe to freeze him after a change-up and ended up yanking it across the plate.”
Still, Perdomo couldn’t shake the notion that they would have won had he trusted his gut. The Mets had a runner on third, two out and Iglesias at the plate in the ninth against hard-throwing reliever Justin Martinez.
“Everybody knows Justin throws 101, 102,” Perdomo said. “I didn’t think a guy like Iglesias is going to pull the ball on a hard sinker.”
He didn’t, instead grounding a ball up the middle. Perdomo nearly made a diving stop but had the ball glance off his glove and roll into shallow center.
Perdomo said he often will trust his instincts even if they run counter to what the team’s scouting reports might suggest, and that he has Lovullo’s blessing to do so.
“I feel like if my instincts tell me something, every time I do, it exactly happens,” he said. “And every time I feel something and I don’t move, it happens that way too. It was a tough series for us, but I think we need to move on.”
They will have to do so quickly: Up next for the Diamondbacks is a four-game series with the first-place Dodgers, who entered Thursday with the best record in baseball.
“We have the mind-set that down the stretch here we want to keep playing good baseball,” Lovullo said. “Every game is meaningful and we’re taking nothing for granted. This group is hungry and we want to go out and play a compete baseball game.”
Friday’s Diamondbacks-Dodgers pitching matchup
Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m., Cox, Ch. 34
Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (10-6, 3.65) vs. Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw (2-2, 3.72).
At Chase Field:Gallen is coming off one of his better starts of the second half, an outing in Boston in which he gave up just two hits and walked four in six scoreless innings. ... It was just Gallen’s third quality start in his past 10 outings. … Gallen has faced the Dodgers only once this season, giving up three runs in four laborious innings on July 4 at Dodger Stadium. … Kershaw gave up five runs in five innings against the Rays in his most recent start, snapping a streak of three outings in a row in which he gave up one or zero runs. … Kershaw has made six starts this year, getting a late start to his year after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery. … He last faced the Diamondbacks on Game 1 of the National League Division Series last year, coughing up six runs while recording only one out before being removed.
Coming up
Saturday: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (4-0, 3.98) vs. Dodgers RHP Gavin Stone (11-5, 3.33).
Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (8-7, 4.31) vs. Dodgers TBA.
Monday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (2-0, 5.06) vs. Dodgers RHP Jack Flaherty (10-6, 3.07).
What to know about the Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers entered their series finale against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night looking to claim their fourth consecutive series. Banged up for much of the season, the Dodgers’ roster is starting to look more complete, with RF Mookie Betts, 3B Max Muncy, SS/CF Tommy Edman and RHP Blake Treinen all back from the injured list in recent weeks. DH Shohei Ohtani remains a frontrunner for the NL MVP award and is on pace to become the first player in history to record 50 homers and 50 steals in the same season. 2B Gavin Lux has been one of the Dodgers’ better hitters of late, posting a .321/.394/.598 line in the second half. RHP Jack Flaherty has a 3.49 ERA in five starts since joining the Dodgers at the trade deadline. RHP Michael Kopech, another deadline acquisition, has been nearly unhittable in relief, giving up just one run on three hits in 13⅓ innings, with three walks and 19 strikeouts.
