PHOENIX -- The game was over, but Kevin Ginkel didn’t move. The Diamondbacks’ reliever hadn’t moved from his seat in the Chase Field dugout since he was removed from the game during the top of the ninth inning.
The dugout emptied and several players patted him on the shoulder or leg as they moved past him. He was staring out onto the field as his brain tried to process what had just happened.
He walked slowly to the clubhouse, and 15 minutes after the game, when the media entered, he was still in full uniform, staring into his locker.
This Friday night loss to the Dodgers counts as just one game in the standings, but when you give up six runs in the ninth inning to lose, 14-11, it sure feels like more than just one.
“I just felt like it happened so fast, really,” Ginkel said, his mind still processing it all. “It was like, base hit here, base hit there.”
It was actually infield hit, double, double, single, strikeout, hit-by-pitch and he was out of the game, the game tied and two men still on base.
Ryan Thompson was called on to face Shohei Ohtani, and the 2024 NL MVP hit a three-run home run to right-center field.
The Diamondbacks have been playing baseball since 1998. Over that span, when they’ve scored 11 runs in a game, they have a 234-3 mark in the regular season.
The first loss came in 1998 at Coors Field. The other two? Both this year, with the other being when they scored 10 runs in the eighth inning against the Cubs and managed to lose 13-11 when Chicago scored six runs in the bottom of the inning.
“I'm devastated,” Thompson said. “I'm embarrassed by the way I pitched tonight. That was a game we should have won. I think that we had multiple times as an offense where we picked up our pitching staff, and those are the games where we have to win. We did some incredible things tonight, and it's a loss in the standings, and that sucks, and it sucks to have a big part in that.”
Right up until the ninth started, it looked like this would be a big win for the Diamondbacks. They were coming off a victory in the series opener Thursday night. They were playing their division rival and debuting their new purple-and-teal City Connect uniforms in front of a raucous sellout crowd.
Trailing by five after the top of the third inning, the Diamondbacks managed to claw their way back into the game and tie it at 8 when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a grand slam in the fifth.
They would tack on three more runs and head into the ninth with an 11-8 lead.
After using Shelby Miller to get through the eighth, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo turned to Ginkel to close out the ninth. With their co-closers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez both on the IL, Lovullo has been playing matchups rather than designating a closer.
“You have it all set up the way you want to and you're three outs away from winning a big baseball game,” Lovullo said. “Kevin's been throwing the ball good. We bounced back and forth between matchups. We don't have a closer on this team. We felt like that pocket [of hitters] was right for [Ginkel]. The pocket above that was right for Miller. And you know, he just missed, with some pitches, some up balls, and maybe some balls that just spun instead of bit.”
It ended up being a crushing loss, one that they will have to get past quickly before the first pitch Saturday night.
“We play these guys a lot,” Ginkel said. “You know, the fans want [to win], we want it. They're a good team. It stinks that I have to tip my cap to them, but they got me today. For me, it's just, gather my thoughts. Tomorrow will be a new day. We'll go from there.”