The Arizona Diamondbacks’ unfathomable road struggles reached near-unprecedented heights on Wednesday night in a 13-7 loss to the host San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.
They now have lost 13 straight two times over the course of the past month, becoming the first team with multiple 13-game losing streaks through an entire season since the 1962 Mets.
Arizona’s last road win was back on April 25, when Madison Bumgarner pitched seven no-hit innings in the second game of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves.
They jumped out to a 7-0 lead and blew it on an eighth-inning grand slam by Mike Yastrzemski, marking the first time this season — in 164 chances — that any team had blown a seven-run lead.
When Brandon Belt took Buchter deep with two on and one out in that inning, the Giants held a 13-2 lead and had already accumulated five home runs.
Lovullo was “very close” to pulling Kelly after the first inning but needed more out of him so that his team would have enough pitching to get by.
A loss on Thursday would put them in the company of teams like the 1890 Pittsburgh Innocents and the 1889 Louisville Colonels — the only franchises to suffer 23 or more consecutive road losses, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau.