ARLINGTON — Ketel Marte stole the show on Tuesday night.
The All-Star second baseman smashed a 445-foot, go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth inning, and then made a terrific diving stop in the bottom of the frame to lift the Diamondbacks to a 3-2 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.
“Marte with an absolute monster shot,” starter Anthony DeSclafani said, “which was awesome to see.”
Added hitting coach Joe Mather: “He didn’t miss it, and that’s what he’s done in the past. He’s had a bunch of big homers like that for us, especially in years’ past. So, I would imagine with that one, at least he’s going home sleeping very well at night.”
Marte declined a postgame interview request, but his play told the story on this night. In the end, that’s what mattered most for a Diamondbacks team that needed a spark after blowing a five-run lead in Monday’s loss.
“These guys came out and played hard. They play hard every single day, and that’s why I love this team,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “They can turn the page and make something like today happen.”
Marte made his presence felt earlier in the game, tying it at 2-2 in the seventh inning, legging out an infield single. The real heroics, though, came a couple of innings later.
In the ninth, the Diamondbacks were in a precarious spot. The team appeared to reach a boiling point when Geraldo Perdomo was called out on strikes for the second out. Perdomo expressed immediate frustration with home-plate umpire Nate Tomlinson’s call, believing Rangers reliever Danny Coulombe’s 2-2 cutter was below the strike zone. Lovullo also vented to Tomlinson, leading to Lovullo’s third ejection of the season and 23rd in his career.
But Marte stepped to the plate after that and turned on a 1-2 sweeper from Coulombe. He sent it into the second-deck in left field, his 22nd homer of the season. It also was the first home run allowed by Coulombe this season.
It tied for the second longest home run of the season for Marte, who had a season-long 449-foot blast on June 20 at Colorado and a 445-foot shot on June 3 at Atlanta.
Lovullo enjoyed watching the long ball in the clubhouse alongside some of his pitchers.
“I was with [Jalen] Beeks and DeSclafani, smiling as best we could,” Lovullo said. “We were all a little bit frustrated from some of the calls and plays that took place. So, when the home run left the field, we were pretty stoked. We laughed, we giggled and we were hanging on for those last three outs.”
Fittingly, Marte delivered on the defensive end to help close it out. He made a spectacular diving stop on a 101.4 mph grounder hit by Josh Jung up the middle for the second out of the frame.
Diamondbacks reliever Juan Morillo then got Kyle Higashioka to ground out to end the game. Morillo earned his first career save with a scoreless ninth.
Other notable performances came from Blaze Alexander, who homered for the second time in as many games, and Tyler Locklear, who had another two-hit game.
But the star of the night was Marte, who has reached safely in 10 straight games to begin August. He’s batting .308 with eight RBIs so far this month. For comparison, he had five RBIs over 19 games in July.
Lovullo recalled a recent conversation he had with Marte, encouraging him to shrink the strike zone.
“If he gets stubborn to the pitch that he’s looking for, he can impact anybody’s stuff at any time,” Lovullo said. “I just expressed the need to shrink up his zone a little bit. When you do, you’re going to start to have very productive at-bats. He’s one of the best right-handed hitters in baseball, and the baseball world knows that. So, when you get stubborn and shrink it up, he’s going to be just fine. You can see what he did today.”
