The road woes continue for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Tuesday night the D-Backs blew a 7-0 lead against the Giants at Oracle Park and lost their 21st consecutive road game, the third longest road losing streak in baseball history.
Arizona's last road win was Madison Bumgarner's seven-inning no-hitter on April 25. Tuesday's final score was 9-8 (box score).
The D-Backs took an 8-5 lead into the eighth inning and were four outs away from ending their road losing streak at one point, but the Giants loaded the bases, and Mike Yastrzemski unloaded them with a go-ahead grand slam against righty reliever Humberto Castellanos. The splash hit turned Arizona's 8-5 lead into a 9-8 deficit.
The Giants used righty Zack Littell as an opener in front of bulk innings guy Sammy Long and it did not go well. Littell did not retire any of the six batters he faced and was charged with four runs. Arizona stretched their lead to 7-0 in the second inning, and their win probability stood at 96 percent as early as the second inning and 92.1 percent as late as the eighth inning.
San Francisco chipped away with three runs in the second inning and two runs in the sixth inning before taking the lead in the eighth. Brandon Belt had three hits and Donovan Solano and Steven Duggar drove in two runs apiece. The grand slam was the first of Yastrzemski's career, and the 7-0 lead is tied for the largest blown lead in a loss in D-Backs' history.
With the loss, the D-Backs dropped to 9-29 on the road, which is a better road record than I would have guessed given the 21-game losing streak. Here are the longest road losing streaks in baseball history:
- 1963 Mets: 22 games (June 16 to July 28)
- 1943 Athletics: 22 games (July 11 to August 28)
- 2021 Diamondbacks: 21 games (May 4 to present)
- 1969 Athletics: 20 games (June 27 to August 8)
- 1985 Pirates: 19 games (July 23 to August 30)
- 1945 Athletics: 19 games (May 20 to July 3)
Tuesday's loss also extended Arizona's overall losing streak to 12 games, regardless of venue. The D-Backs have lost 35 of their last 40 games and have baseball's worst record at 20-48.
Arizona has two games remaining in this three-game series in San Francisco. They'll face Anthony DeSclafani on Wednesday and Kevin Gausman on Thursday. Arizona's next road series is next weekend against the Padres.
Not to be forgotten, the Orioles lost their 17th consecutive road game Tuesday night (CLE 7, BAL 2). Their last road win was John Means' no-hitter on May 5.
