PHOENIX — It’s getting real.
Arizona’s postseason hopes were seemingly gone after selling at the Trade Deadline, but the Diamondbacks somehow began to play better, earning them barely a mention on the periphery of postseason talk.
But after the Mets, who hold the third NL Wild Card spot, recently dropped eight straight games, the Diamondbacks crept closer and closer. Now, as Lovullo correctly noted, it’s getting real.
With the win, the Diamondbacks kept pace with the Mets and remained 1 1/2 games behind them. Arizona picked up a game on the Giants and now lead both San Francisco and Cincinnati by 1 1/2 games with 10 games remaining.
“It was a massive win,” Lovullo said. “Our margins for error are tiny. We’ve got to go out there and continue to play good baseball games and fight for everything that we can on the baseball field. These guys continue to grind and go out there and believe they’re going to win a baseball game. It’s getting real. That’s all I say, it’s getting real. But we’ve got to keep grinding, we’ve got to keep doing the things we need to do.”
The win not only helped the Diamondbacks immediately in the standings, but also clinched the season series against the Giants, which would be important if somehow they wound up tying for a postseason spot.
Things didn’t look good for Arizona early as the Giants scored four times in the first inning off Eduardo Rodriguez, but after that, their offense went quiet with a solo homer by Wilmer Flores in the third as the only damage.
Not only did Rodriguez settle in, but the bullpen, which has been a weak spot for Arizona all year, also did its job as D-backs pitchers combined to retire the final 14 consecutive batters.
“On one hand, we still need the Mets to lose,” said outfielder Corbin Carroll. “But on the other hand, we’re right in there. So just got to keep playing well and stacking wins in order to get in. Everyone is very focused, but at the same time still having fun.”
While the Giants struggled to put runners on base as the game progressed, the Diamondbacks consistently got them on but failed to bring them around to score. Arizona left a combined six runners on base in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
Finally, in the ninth, the D-backs were able to break through against Giants closer Ryan Walker.
Carroll started the frame with a single and Gabriel Moreno followed with a walk. Blaze Alexander then tried to sacrifice bunt the runners up, but he ended up reaching when second baseman Casey Schmitt took his foot off first base when fielding the throw.
That loaded the bases for rookie Jordan Lawlar, and he hit a tapper back to the first-base side of the mound. Walker tried to field it, but it got under his glove and first baseman Wilmer Flores’ throw home was not in time to nab the speedy Carroll coming in from third base.
It marked the first walk-off hit of Lawlar’s young career. Knowing he would be facing Walker in that situation, he sneaked into the batting cage before his at-bat to take some swings on the Trajekt pitching machine, which simulates a pitcher’s delivery and the movement of his pitches.
“Just to see what his pitches look like,” Lawlar said. “I just wanted to put the ball in play. That’s really all I was trying to do is put the ball in play, and I saw the slider come a little out front, and I just put the bat on the ball and ran as fast I could.”
