The Arizona Diamondbacks fought all the way back from a 6-run deficit. But their errors resulted in a massive hit to their playoff push on Sunday. A fifth-inning defensive collapse handed the Texas Rangers three unearned runs. And despite the efforts from the lineup, they couldn’t come back, drawing the fans’ ire after another series loss.
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“D-backs with a display of defense that you can’t have when you’re fighting for your playoff life,” Talkin’ Baseball captioned the 28-second clip.
The Rangers were leading 2-1 entering the 5th inning, and the defensive collapse started with Nolan Arenado.
Justin Foscue hit a grounder off starter Eduardo Rodriguez, and it went straight to third base. Arenado tried a backhand to grab the low ball, but it ricocheted off him and went toward shortstop.
Geraldo Perdomo was quick to pick and throw it while Arenado just stood there.
The crowd booed seeing Foscue reach first base safely.
“Disappointed. Still think I probably should have made it,” Arenado later said. But this was just the beginning.
Corey Seager soon followed up with a single, and Foscue reached third. Josh Jung entered the batter’s box, and he hit a sinking liner to the left. Lars Nootbaar positioned himself to glove it.
Instead, the ball dropped right in front of him and went between his legs. By the time he turned and started running for it, it had already reached the fence and bounced back.
“The Diamondbacks defense has collapsed in this inning,” the broadcast booth noted.
Foscue and Seager scored on the error while Jung reached second. Shortly after, Brandon Nimmo recorded a single and Jung reached home. The Rangers went from 2-1 to 5-1 in that inning before Rodriguez could finally wrap it up.
The D-backs had an impressive 9-1 victory in the series opener. But they dropped the second game 6-2. They needed to win the third game as they are still fighting for a playoff spot. But their hopes sank further when the Rangers added 2 more runs in the 6th.
Nolan Arenado later tried to spark a comeback. His 3-run home run reduced the gap in the 7th inning. The Arizona lineup added two more runs in the 9th, but they ultimately fell short and lost the game 7-6.
They were once going toe-to-toe against the San Diego Padres for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. But after the series loss against Texas, they are 2.5 games behind the Padres and a playoff spot.
With 12 games remaining in the season, fans were obviously not happy with their outing this Sunday.
Fans lose patience as D-backs suffer costly loss
“COOKED,” commented one fan. The way they came so close yet failed to complete the comeback disappointed the diehards. And many argued that without those gaffes in the 5th, they would have a sure chance of winning the game.
“Fighting for your playoff life and you defend like this is insane 😭 that’s Little League,” wrote another fan.
Every game and every run is important. And defending those runs might be more so. That’s why the fans couldn’t stop criticizing the team. And some have already lost hope.
One wrote, “Any real @Dbacks fan gave up and knew the season was over last week, if not earlier.. Personally, I already started looking forward to 2028.”
Last week, they won 4 back-to-back games against the Houston Astros and the Kansas City Royals. But that was still not enough to clinch a playoff spot. The biggest irony is that the Diamondbacks aren’t historically poor with defense.
In fact, they have the second-lowest number of errors (58) this year, according to Baseball-Reference. Their .989 fielding percentage and +27 DRS aren’t bad either. But the timing of their recent errors makes these numbers a moot point.
“Don’t remind me,” a fan wrote with little hope to hang on to. But another loyalist tried to defend Nolan. He said:
“Arenado is still above average defensively. He’s still ranked top 10. His error just was made worse by the non professional outfield play in LF by Nootbaar.”
Nolan Arenado has recorded 6 errors this season so far, and he has a .980 fielding percentage. Nootbaar, on the other hand, has a .992 fielding percentage, making just 1 error in 2026. So putting it on one individual may not make things better.
While the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ offense nearly rescued them, the defensive hole was too big to fill. And it was costly, earning solid backlash and making their playoff contention even more challenging.