The two losses in this series have each been by one-run margins, and it’s easy to see how each of them could have gone the other way, purely on the home-run front. Friday’s game swung on a home-run from a man who had hit precisely two over the first hundred-plus games in the majors. Then Saturday’s margin was a home-run by a 27-year-old rookie, the first for that player since 2016 and only his second career long-ball coming off the bench. These things will happen, unfortunately. That they happened in the first two games after the All-Star break was particularly unfortunate and annoying, as was the double-helping of loss-flavored tacos, the first time this year in consecutive games.
Preview #100: 7/22: Diamondbacks vs Rockies
