Player of the gameEduardo RodriguezARI7.0ip 5h 1er 1k
Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen desperately wants to be a buyer at the Trade Deadline, but for him to be able to justify it, his team is going to have to pick up the pace a bit. Since a 13-game stretch against the Rockies and Giants in which the Diamondbacks went 11-2, things have gone in the wrong direction for Arizona. The Diamondbacks have struggled to hit with runners in scoring position. They've suffered a whole host of injuries to their pitching staff, including finding out that ace Corbin Burnes won't return until September instead of July. The same goes for closer A.J. Puk, and as if that weren't enough, starters Michael Soroka and Ryne Nelson were both lost to injury. After being swept in a three-game series by the Rays in Tampa Bay, the Diamondbacks won, 5-4, in the opening game of a three-game set with the Giants on Monday. At 42-42, Arizona is 2 1/2 games out of the third NL Wild Card spot with there teams ahead of them. It was with all that in mind that Hazen was asked again about whether he would buy at the Trade Deadline. "What I want to do and what I'm gonna do may not work in concert with each other," Hazen said. "I want this team to make a deep run in the pennant race and into the playoffs, and we're going to need to add players to do that. I say this every year, I don't really feel like I'm going to make that decision. I feel like that decision is going to get handed to me one way or another from the guys down there \[in the clubhouse\
