The Diamondbacks Beat Cubs in 13 inning Thriller
Evan Longoria stood out at second base in the bottom of the 13th inning, representing the the game winning run. As he shuffled back and forth off the bag trying to get his legs loose, he worked to get a good secondary lead. Red hot Gabriel Moreno was at the plate, and Longoria knew exactly what he had to do.
"Mentally I could see it happening in my head. How many hits has Gabby had to that side in the last three days? It's just one of those situations where the whole right side is open, he's hot, and he's been hitting the ball that way so I'm anticipating that exact play happening in my head before it even happened."
Sure enough, Moreno delivered, driving a sharply hit ground ball through the right side into right field. Longoria never hesitated.
"I didn't even look at TP [3rd base coach Tony Perezchica] Obviously there I'm trying to get as big a secondary lead as I can. It helps when it's two strikes too, any time when the bat moves forward I can start running"
Despite getting the good secondary lead it wasn't a sure thing however. With such a sharply hit ball and a great arm on the right fielder Seiya Suzuki, it took every bit that the 37-year-old had to get to the plate and get his hand around the tag. After the safe call was challenged and upheld, the D-backs had sealed a wild 7-6 victory.
Coming off his first career four-hit game yesterday, Moreno has been the D-backs hottest hitter of late. He went 2-for-4 with two walks and a stolen base to go with his game-winning hit. He did have a hiccup in the bottom of the 9th when he was caught stealing with Corbin Carroll at the plate and two-outs. In the top of the 10th his throwing error on a stolen base attempt down to third allowed the Cubs to go ahead 5-4. But he more than made up for it with his RBI knock in the 13th.
Moreno felt that his at bat in the 12th inning in which he drew a walk allowed him to have a focused at bat in the 13th. He got a 97 MPH fastball up and just off the plate and was able to stay back and drive it the other way. Moreno credited his ability to be able to go the other way in part to studying a lot of videos of Miguel Cabrera, feeling that ability would help him as a hitter in the long run. He's focused his entire career on having a middle of the field approach to gain an advantage.
The game was a see-saw battle that saw the D-backs take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Tommy Pham tripled and scored on a Christian Walker double. Lourdes Gurriel Jr then hit the first of his three RBI singles for the night to drive in Walker
Starter Zach Davies was efficient through four innings, but loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the 5th. Torey Lovullo had a quick hook, and went out to get the veteran right hander, bringing in Luis Frias. Unfortunately all three inherited runners came in to score on a walk, a double play and single, giving the Cubs a 3-2 lead. The D-backs tied it up in the 6th however on three straight singles by Walker, Longoria, and Gurriel.
That's how things stood until the 10th inning. Each team plated the ghost runner in their half of the 10th and 11th innings, but neither team was able to put up a crooked number. After a scoreless 12th inning from Joe Mantiply, he went out and held Chicago to just one run in the 13th, giving his team a chance to walk it off in the bottom half.
The Diamondbacks had to use seven relievers in the game. One down note after the game was learning that reliever Scott McGough was unavailable, and that he was unlikely to be available tomorrow either. McGough threw 27 pitches on Thursday night, but the cryptic response from Lovullo indicates there might be an injury. That coupled with the emptied bullpen tonight means the team is highly likely to make a couple of roster moves to bolster the pen for Sunday's tilt.
The D-backs remain in the third wild card position, tied with the Reds at 78-72. They are just a half game behind the Cubs for the 2nd spot and if they can pull off the sweep tomorrow would vault into the second wild card spot.
Sunday's game has been moved to a 4:10 P.M. start and will be broadcast on ESPN. Ryne Nelson starts for the D-backs and lefty Jordan Wicks will start for the Cubs.
