The Diamondbacks showed once again how hard they fight in each and every game. Despite their high-octane offense, leading all of Major League Baseball with 5.24 runs per game, being held down for the first eight innings, they continued to fight to their last breath. Trailing by one and down to his final strike, Jake McCarthy managed to get on top of a 100 MPH fastball and shoot a ground ball past the third base bag to deliver a 4-3 walk-off win at Chase Field.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!That at-bat could not have been made possible without the efforts of the three batters that came up before him and reached base. Corbin Carroll hit a triple in the right field corner to start the rally against Victor Vodnik. Following a tough strikeout by Kevin Newman, the Diamondbacks did not give up and continued to battle. Adrian Del Castillo and Geraldo Perdomo worked back-to-back walks to get the winning run into scoring position, setting up McCarthy for his heroics.
“I know the walk-off will get credit, but there were four or five awesome at-bats before that,” said McCarthy in the postgame interview on Dbacks TV. “Del Castillo comes off the bench and works a walk. I almost think taking pitches in that situation is the hardest thing to do. With two outs there, you need your guys to come through for you.”
Eduardo RodrÃguez got off to a hot start, retiring the side in just seven pitches. However, the Rockies made him labor over the next two innings, as he needed 49 pitches to get the next six outs. All three runs and six hits against RodrÃguez came in those two innings. He recovered to give the Diamondbacks five solid innings on 83 pitches. He had a good feel for landing the backdoor cutter on right-handed hitters and got some swings and misses on his changeup. He finished his start by retiring the final seven hitters he faced.
In the grand scheme of things, getting five innings out of the left-hander proved to be critical when everything added up at the end of the game, as Lovullo was able to give his relievers clean innings. Dylan Floro, Kevin Ginkel, Paul Sewald, Joe Mantiply combined for four scoreless innings, with just one walk as the lone baserunner. While it took until the ninth inning for the offense to come through, the bullpen shutting down the door turned the game around.
Trailing 3-0 in the third, Arizona immediately answered the two runs by the Rockies in the top half of the inning. José Herrera and Geraldo Perdomo opened up with singles to put two on. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove in the first run, although he was robbed of a hit by Ezequiel Tovar. Josh Bell then came up with another big hit, almost a nightly occurrence since joining the Diamondbacks, splitting the left-center gap to make it 3-2.
There were a couple of opportunities to come back against the Rockies. Randal Grichuk doubled to put a runner in scoring position in the sixth. In the seventh, a base hit by Newman and a walk by Geraldo Perdomo put two on for McCarthy, who bounced into an inning-ending double play. Even though they missed those chances, they continued to put pressure on Rockies pitchers.
The Diamondbacks have now won nine straight series. They’ll go for a sweep of the Rockies on Wednesday afternoon, sending left-hander Jordan Montgomery (7-6, 6.37 ERA) to the mound against right-hander Tanner Gordon (0-3, 6.15 ERA). First pitch at Chase Field will be at 12:40 P.M. MST.
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, exclusive content, and access to our seasonal magazines! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*
Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
