D-backs Finish Off Padres in Thrilling Comeback Win

Trailing 3-0 before their first swing of the bat, the D-backs battled back to defeat the Padres in their last at-bat.

Coming off last night's emotional win that snapped a nine-game losing streak, it would have been easy for the Diamondbacks to have a natural letdown after falling behind 3-0 before their first swing of the bat. Instead, they buckled up and gritted out one of their most impressive wins of the season as they came back to defeat the San Diego Padres 5-4 in front of an energetic crowd of 29,277 at Chase Field. 

"That was huge, it shows what the team we are, that we have each other's backs," said  D-backs right-hander Brandon Pfaadt.

The rookie right-hander did not let that first inning define his start, as he kept San Diego off the scoreboard for the next 4 2/3 innings. He struck out a career-high eight batters, hitting the corners of the strike zone with his fastball and getting some key strikeouts on the sweeper. He finished one strike short of a quality start.

"Based on what I saw, he gave us everything he could and settled in after those early runs," said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo. "When you see young pitchers do that, show the ability to redirect themselves and not get scraped off the mound, you're talking about someone who is ready to grow and learn."

Immediately after falling behind 3-0, the D-backs answered immediately. Corbin Carroll tripled on a ground ball that got into the right field corner and scored on a Ketel Marte single. 

"Those are the little things we haven't been doing, I think it usually takes us two or three innings to get back into the game," said Lovullo. "Two batters into the game it's 3-1. We talk about shutdown innings all the time from our perspective, it's very powerful when you do not allow a team to have a shutdown inning. We went out there and scored a quick point and it made a big statement to our dugout."

The D-backs made another big statement in the 7th inning. Trailing 4-2, Jace Peterson led off the inning with a four-pitch walk against Padres reliever Nick Martinez to get the potential tying run at the plate. Lovullo brought in Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to pinch hit for José Herrera with a runner at second and one out. Despite falling behind early in the count, Gurriel battled back to work the count full. The most impressive part of the at-bat came when he laid off and tracked a changeup that was just below the knees. Gurriel launched the very next pitch into the left-field bleachers to tie the game.

"I talk about that all the time with the guys, and I know the hitting coaches do too," said Lovullo. "Sometimes the pitches you take that put you in the right position to get something you can do damage on. Had he swung at that [2-2] pitch, swing pitch, swing part of the count, he probably wouldn't have gotten the same pitch the very next pitch. You're only as good as the pitches you swing at, you got to be dynamic and swing at strikes. If you're looking to slug, you got to slug the pitch you're looking for. If you don't get it, you check off on it. The fact he checked off on that I think set a tone for what he was seeing and what he was ready to do."

After a shutdown inning from Luis Frías and Kyle Nelson, the D-backs went to work in the eighth. Arizona loaded the bases with one out on the heels of aggressive, heads-up baserunning and an intentional walk. Alek Thomas hit a sinking liner sacrifice fly to medium-deep right center to plate Christian Walker for the winning run. New closer Paul Sewald recorded his second save in as many days for Arizona, pitching around a two-out walk by striking out Gary Sanchez.

With the win, the D-backs have climbed back up to .500 on the season with a 59-59 record. They will travel to Colorado to play a stubborn Rockies team for a three-game series at Coors Field. Arizona has not announced their rotation for the series, with a lot of moving parts over the next 72 hours. They are now 2.5 games behind the Miami Marlins for the third Wild Card spot with the Cubs and Reds above them.