Redemption Night for Suarez and Sewald as D-backs come back on Braves

Eugenio Suarez big night at the plate keyed a comeback victory and Paul Sewald locked down the save in the Diamondbacks 7-5 victory over the Braves

Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez (28) crosses home plate after hitting a two-run home run on July 10, 2024 at Chase Field in Phoenix. / Owen Ziliak/The Republic / USA TODAY

Eugenio Suarez spent his pregame warmups hitting against the breaking ball machine to get ready for Braves starter Charlie Morton, who has one of the best curveballs in MLB. That paid off in a big way when Suarez hit a massive two-run homer in the second inning, and an RBI double in the seventh. Both hits came off curveballs from Morton, keying the Diamondbacks 7-5, comeback victory.

The home run, his eighth of the year, came on the fourth curveball of the at bat. Suarez took the first three. "He threw me really good ones, and on that pitch specifically I was ready for that one. I knew he was going to try to throw that one again. Thank God I was ready for that, I put my best swing on it."

Number 8 of the year a 452 foot big fly for Eugenio Suarez to tie it up

pic.twitter.com/WO2oxKiP06

— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) July 11, 2024

Morton threw three straight curveballs to Suarez again in the seventh inning. This time he roped a double down the left field line, scoring Geraldo Perdomo, who had three hits of his own.

Suarez had slumped for most of the first half of the season, but as we wrote about a couple days ago, his bat has come alive the last two weeks and he's been able to contribute on offense. "I've been working hard, I never chase results, if I keep working hard and then the results are going to be there"

It had been a while waiting for these results. Through June 23rd he was batting just .192/.276/.308, .584 OPS. Over his last 14 games, 54 PA he's batting .298/.389/.553, .942 OPS. That includes four doubles, a triple, two homers and 12 RBI

This was only the third time in 44 games the D-backs won a game in which they had trailed by two runs or more at any point the game. The Braves scored two runs off Slade Cecconi in the second, but Suarez' homer tied it up to set the tone.

The Braves got to Cecconi for another run in the third, but Ketel Marte hit his 18th homer of the year to tie it up again at 3-3. Marte's homer was a 444 blast to the walkway above the pool in right center.

Torey Lovullo pulled Cecconi after four innings. The young right-hander allowed three runs on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts. Cecconi's ERA now stands at 6.14.

Due to not needing him to start again before the All Star break, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports, the team optioned Cecconi out after the game. They will bring up a reliever to provide some depth to the tired bullpen. As we reported yesterday, Jordan Montgomery is expected to be ready to rejoin the rotation right after the break.

Joe Mantiply, Kevin Ginkel, and Justin Martinez each threw a scoreless inning, striking out six of the eight batters they faced. That included Ginkel striking out the side in the sixth inning,

Suarez' seventh inning RBI double put the D-backs up 4-3 and Jose Herrera padded that lead by singling into right to score Suarez.

The 5-3 lead didn't last long however. Ryan Thompson was next man up in the pen, and he allowed a two-run blast off the bat of Braves slugger Marcel Ozuna, tying the game back up at 5-5.

Once more the D-backs answered back however. Corbin Carroll led off the eighth with a double, Marte singled him to third and Joc Pederson was hit by a pitch. That loaded the bases with nobody out for Christian Walker. The slugging first baseman had a patient at bat, taking several close pitches just off the plate away, drawing the go-ahead RBI walk.

Perdomo then hit a sharp liner to right fielder Adam Duval for a sacrifice fly, scoring Marte. Perdomo had a two doubles, a single, scored two, and drove in a run. But his spectacular evening was not done.

Paul Sewald came on to close out the game. He had blown his previous three save attempts, all within the span of a week. He spoke to the media about his struggles at length on Tuesday, expressing confidence and a strong desire to get right back on the horse.

The first pitch he threw was a 91 MPH sinker in the middle of the plate. Travis dArnaud hit a 106 MPH grounder towards the hole on the left side of the infield. Perdomo made a spectacular diving stop however, and got up quickly to make a strong throw to first, recording the first out of the inning.

Sewald then got Sean Murphy, who homered off him in the 9th inning Monday night, to hit a shallow fly out to center on another 91 MPH sinker in the heart of the zone. Finally Jarred Kelenic popped out to Marte to to end the game.

Asked after the game how it felt to get this save, Sewald said "Good, I didn't make the first three a bigger deal than they were, I'm not going to make this one a bigger deal than it is, it's just one"

Sewald expressed appreciation for the great defensive play by Perdomo and also the support of his teammates. "Like I said, no one really made it a bigger deal than you guys and fans, obviously so. It's just a really bad week. I assume all of you have had a bad work week. It's officially a new week and we're going to just get right back at it."

Sewald has now saved 12 of 15 chances, for an 80% success rate. Since 2022 there are 29 MLB pitchers to record at least 30 total saves. Sewald's 83.5% conversion rate (66 for 79) ranks 19th.

The D-backs record stands at 46-47. They have a chance to split the series and get back to .500 with a victory Thursday night against these same Braves. Ryne Nelson starts for the D-backs and Max Fried goes for Atlanta. First pitch is 6:40 P.M. MST