Mark Grace perhaps said it best in the postgame show when he said, “Im not sure we have seen a more unlikely Dbacks win the season”
The almost Dback Clay Holmes shut this Dbacks offense down for 7 innings. The Dbacks had a deal in place for Holmes per multiple reports but the deal fell through at the last minute due to medicals. The fact that he was almost a Dback made the first 7 innings of this game sting all that much more, especially given the current status of this rotation.
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Brandon Pfaadt was pretty good today pitching into the 7th inning tonight and allowing 4 runs while keeping his team within striking distance. The Cubs have the 2nd best offense in the league and Pfaadt did a decent enough job of keeping them in check. His first 3 innings were pretty easy getting lots of soft contact, however he gave up a 3 run HR in the 4th inning on a hanging curveball to Ian Happ. Most importantly however, like I mentioned earlier, he was able to settle back in after the home run and give his team 6.2 innings against a red hot offense.
The Dbacks offense finally woke up in the 8th inning as they were able to finally get on the board with 3 runs due to some linked up at bats with a couple of walks and a huge double from the red hot Gabi Moreno and a single from Geraldo Perdomo. When this offense has been clicking this season, it seems as though it is starting with the bottom of the order getting on base for the top of the order.
The story of the game however was Ryan Waldsschmidt who for the second time this season hit a walkoff home run off of a contending team’s closer. This time it came as a pinch hitter with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th with Jose Fernandez pinch running at first base for Tim Tawa. The Dbacks were inches away from losing this game as Jose Fernandez was narrowly able to steal 2nd base and get into scoring position down 4-3. Then Waldschmidt got a hanging slider and did not miss it! What an electric moment and perhaps the biggest swing of the season thus far considering that the Dbacks were able to gain a game on both the Padres and the Phillies tonight on 1 single swing. What a great moment for this team!
The Dbacks will look to win the series tomorrow night and in the postgame interview Torey Lovullo insisted that Jordan Lawlar will be in the lineup tomorrow which is tremendous news for this team and for a guy that has had such unfortunate injury luck in his early career. So all is right in the desert tonight and what a tremendous boost for this team as the Dbacks will go into tomorrow 1 game out of a wild card spot!
