D-backs Fall Apart Then Come Together to Win a Wild One

In a crucial must-win game, the Diamondbacks nearly blew this one, but come together for a big ninth to win.

The Arizona Diamondbacks had a wild evening in Denver, Colorado where they finished as the victors and got back to .500, an even 60-60 record. It was a bullpen game for the Snakes who had Joe Mantiply on the mound to start. Unlike yesterday, Mantiply had a terrific 1-2-3 first inning, but the rest of the game would prove to be a dogfight. Following Mantiply was rookie Bryce Jarvis who made his MLB debut.

Jarvis, in front of a nervous family, pitched brilliantly over three innings. While he allowed a run, it was a ton of weak contact. He gave up just one hit while striking out three. It was an impressive debut for the newest Diamondback who provided crucial length out of the pen for a tired Diamondbacks bullpen. 

On the offensive side, the Diamondbacks scored two runs in the top of the third inning thanks to a Christian Walker opposite field home run. It was his 26th of the year and his 78th RBI. Then, the offense went silent against a hittable starter in Ty Blach. Meanwhile Tyler Gilbert came on for the fifth and and made a fantastic play to get Nolan Jones out at third base on what could've been a triple. Gilbert  gave up a triple to Charlie Blackmon in the sixth who scored soon after and tied the game up at two apiece. Then, Luis Frias came on and did quite well to close off the sixth inning.

That was until the weird and wild seventh inning. Geraldo Perdomo, who was having a great day at second base with numerous elite defensive plays, bunted for a single. Brent Suter, the Rockies' pitcher fielded the ball and threw wild. This allowed Perdomo to take second. Then, Ketel Marte walked. With no outs and runners on first and second, Corbin Carroll was up. He was due for a big blast, but the call was for him to bunt the runners over. A smart call, but he took three pitches in a row to draw the count to 3-0. Then, for some reason, Carroll bunted on a bad pitch, an up-and-in fastball, and it went straight in the air where it was caught.

Later in the inning, Perdomo and Marte were at second and third with two outs. The Rockies catcher, Elias Diaz, decided to try to backpick Perdomo at third base and sailed the throw over the bag. Perdomo scored easily, however, Marte got thrown out at home plate by a mile. It was a tough base running miscue and it felt like the Diamondbacks were going to continue their recent mistakes of failing to take advantage of their opponent's errors.

But, then the wheels fell off. Luis Frias stopped doing what he was doing so well of late and lost command of his pitches. He gave up a two-run home run to Brenton Doyle and the Rockies jumped ahead 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was the latest blown save and bullpen issue that the team had to deal with. A crushing blow to the morale and hope. It severed the momentum, but the team would find a new way to win, one they'd needed to find for a while.

Kevin Ginkel came on in the eighth inning and shut the door down in a dominant fashion. Then came a magical ninth inning for the D-backs as they showed the  their ability to have big innings was still in there. They could still string at-bats together and score a lot of runs really fast. They scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning, raising Rockies' closer Justin Lawrence's ERA a whole run. They sent nine men to the plate. Alek Thomas got things started with a single followed by Perdomo's double. Then, Marte hit a sharp single and tied the game at five. Tommy Pham then laced a broken-bat double down the left field line to plate Marte and take the lead. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed with a single to plate Pham. Next, it was Jace Peterson's turn. He hit a single to right field and Gurriel Jr. was able to slide under the tag to put the D-backs up 8-5. It has been multiple weeks since Arizona was able to score five runs in one inning. 

With the Diamondbacks taking the lead in the top of the ninth inning, Ginkel earned his sixth win of the year to move to 6-0. Paul Sewald stranded the bases loaded showing the Diamondbacks what it's like to have a dominant closer. Even when he was against the ropes with one out and bases loaded, Sewald got Charlie Blackmon and Ezequiel Tovar  to get his 24th save of the year.

In the end, despite the D-backs struggling to play their style of ball until the ninth inning, this team still managed to win. They played their brand of fast-paced, well-executed baseball. They didn't have any errors. They stole bases and took the extra base. Manager Torey Lovullo has a lot to be proud of. While it would be great if the team figured out to how score during the middle innings, what matters at the end is that they figured out how to get back to being themselves and walked away with a win.

This win puts the Diamondbacks just 2.5 games back of the Wild Card standings and the third-place Marlins. They are 60-60 and face the Rockies tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 pm. They will go for the series win and face Austin Gomber. The D-backs are going to be having another bullpen game, Slade Cecconi should feature prominently.