There's a tendency to sort of downplay defense in its importance during the course of a game in favor of offense. And it's tempting given how bad they have been offensively, but runs prevented can be valuable, as well as not giving up runs in the outfield.
I understand that they are losing that game regardless because of how Gerrit Cole was pitching and how they looked at the plate, but he missed that ball in CF with two outs of a 2-0 game... if he puts that in his back pocket, I feel reasonably confident that game stays more in hand. It just changed the entire trajectory of the game... it changes the momentum, it likely altered how AJ used the pitching staff, etc.
All of this is to say that the experiment badly needs to end when Austin Meadows gets back and if / when Riley Greene comes up. Last night may not have been the most winnable, but you risk losing something winnable in the future having him out there