This was the 2nd meeting of the set, with Arizona having already taken the opener a day earlier. Cleveland's offense had been streaky, alternating hot nights with total silence, and Messick's brilliance had masked some real cracks in a lineup that needed to be better than it had been.
For 6 innings this looked like the pitcher's duel on paper suggested it might not be. Cleveland scratched out 2 early runs and Arizona was held quiet until a 2-run 5th, and then the game detonated. The Diamondbacks strung together a 7-run 7th inning that buried the Guardians, tacked on more in the 8th and 9th, and had enough cushion to survive a 5-run Cleveland rally in the bottom of the 8th that made it briefly interesting again.
Sixteen hits from an Arizona lineup that's supposed to be shorthanded is the story here — Torey Lovullo's group is finding ways to score even with half its outfield and rotation on the injured list. Cleveland's own injury report is thin by comparison, with reliever Shawn Armstrong back off the IL, but a shaky bullpen night undid whatever margin Messick had built for his team.
Messick is still going to finish this year in the Rookie of the Year conversation no matter what happened in this one outing — he's been that good all season. But nights like this are a reminder that even an ace can get hit, and that Arizona's lineup, patchwork or not, is a genuine problem for anyone on the mound right now.