Geraldo Perdomo Walks Off the Blue Jays with a Sac Fly in the 9th

The Diamondbacks came back to beat the Blue Jays 5-4 in a gritty win.

Jul 12, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (2) celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk off sacrifice fly RBI against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports / Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Geraldo Perdomo hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to score Corbin Carroll from third base with the winning run in the Diamondbacks 5-4 walk off victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The D-backs are now 48-47, and finish the night over .500 for the first time since April 3rd when they were 4-3.

Carroll and Ketel Marte each drew ninth inning walks and then pulled off a double steal. After Christian Walker was intentionally walked, Perdomo got a first pitch fastball down the middle from Chad Green and lifted the ball in the air down the line in left.

With the speedy Carrol on third the only question was whether it would be fair or foul. Former Diamondback Daulton Varsho caught the ball just in fair territory but had no chance to throw out Carroll, who crossed the plate well ahead of the the throw for the game winner.

It was Perdomo's first walk off RBI in the major leagues. Asked his mindset for the at bat, Perdomo responded simply: "Win the game!". After much laughter he said, "Oh, you think I'm joking?" He went on to explain he felt Green would throw a fastball and he just wanted to get the ball in the air.

Alek Thomas had delivered a clutch two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning to tie it up at 4-4. That base hit was also set up by a couple of walks, by Perdomo and Eugenio Suarez. They both advanced on a wild pitch, setting up Thomas' base hit.

The ball was a sinking liner to left field and a fully healthy Varsho would have probably made a diving catch attempt. But with a banged up knee he played it on the hop as the tying runs came home.

That hit got Ryne Nelson off the hook, who left the game trailing 3-2 despite seven solid innings.

Nelson was dominant early, allowing just a two out single in the first before retiring 11 straight batters. He was throwing almost nothing but four seamers and cutters, and while that approach led to some quick innings, the Blue Jays started to get to him, scoring single runs in each of the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.

A single a double, and RBI groundout plated the first run against Nelson in the fifth. George Springer hit a leadoff triple in the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly. Varsho hit the second leadoff triple in a row to start the 7th, and also scored on a sacrifice fly.

Nelson's final line was 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K's. He threw 98 pitches, 69 for strikes. He gave the Diamondbacks much needed length on a night with multiple relievers down. Kevin Ginkel, Ryan Thompson, and Paul Sewald were all unavailable for manager Torey Lovullo.

"On a night where we were a little bit thin with our main back end guys in the bullpen, [Nelson] dialed it up and gave us seven real good innings. I pre determined before the game if he was in a position to give us a little bit more that I was going to allow him to."

This is the fifth time this year Nelson has pitched into the seventh inning, and he's completed the frame three times. He's gone six innings or longer seven times. Thats tied with Zac Gallen for the second most on the team behind Brandon Pfaadt's 14.

Suddenly Nelson has become somewhat dependable when it comes to giving the team length. Four of those 6+ inning outings have come in his last six appearances.

Said Nelson, "I'm trying to get some quick innings, keep the pitch count down, and get some length. I feel like 6-7 innings, that's my job. A big shoutout to Torey for letting me go out there and finish that seventh too. That was pretty cool."

The D-backs had gotten out to an early 2-0 lead against Blue Jays starter Yariel Rodriguez. Kevin Newman doubled in the third inning and scored on Corbin Carroll's RBI single. Randal Grichuk, getting a rare start against a righty, had a leadoff triple of his own in the fourth inning, and scored on Newman's sacrifice fly.

Bryce Jarvis pitched the eighth inning and gave up a run, which put the Blue Jays up 4-2. Justin Martinez retired the side in order in the ninth to set up the walk off opportunity.

After winning just one game through June when trailing by two or more runs at any point in the game, they've now recorded three wins in such games in July.

The D-backs are tied with the Padres, one game out of the Wild Card. Standings. Game two of the series is a later than usual, 7:10 P.M. MST start on Saturday night. Yilber Diaz will make his second career start for Arizona, and Jose Berrios will get the ball for Toronto.