Diamondbacks Walk Off Nationals in Wild 8-7 Victory
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.'s game-tying home run and Pavin Smith's bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning sealed an 8-7 Diamondbacks walk-off win over the Nationals.
There were numerous emotional twists and turns in the game leading up to that point. The Diamondbacks had taken control of a 2-2 ball game with a run in the seventh and three runs in the eighth to carry a 6-2 lead into the top of the ninth. That lead didn't hold however as reliever's Scott McGough and Andrew Chafin had a disaster ninth inning, giving up five runs to put the Nationals up 7-6. McGough started the inning by giving up a lead off home run to Keibert Ruiz, and then issued a two out walk.
Torey Lovullo turned to Andrew Chafin who had just worked for his fifth save the previous night. It was the 16th time in 33 games that Lovullo has called Chafin's number and it finally caught up to him. Chafin allowed two base hits, including a two run single and then a big two-run homer to Lane Thomas that gave the Nationals the lead.
After the game a clearly emotionally drained Lovullo talked about the feeling in the dugout after that top of the ninth inning, saying it was "Emotional, a lot of frustration, anger, there wasn't one person that was happy in that dugout."
Lovullo also made the comment that Chafin was his closer during the press conference, which was the first time he'd made that acknowledgement. He was quick to walk that back and mention that he's spread around the save chances, but the fact is the bulk of the ninth inning save chances have gone to Chafin. Lovullo also admitted that he's going to have to back off Chafin's workload. His ERA ballooned to 4.26 and he's also allowed six out of 10 inherited runners to score.
It will show as a no-decision in the box score, but Tommy Henry pitched winning baseball tonight. Matched up against MacKenzie Gore, the two left-handers were locked in an unorthodox pitcher's duel, both pitcher's going six innings and leaving the game in a 2-2 tie. Henry did it by inducing contact and letting his defense do the work. Gore struck out nine batters with a power fastball and curveball.
The Diamondbacks took an early lead against Gore in the first on a home run into the D-backs bullpen by Emmanuel Rivera. Henry cruised through the first three innings, facing the minimum, issuing just a leadoff work in the third, but that runner was gunned down stealing by Gabriel Moreno.
Henry ran into trouble in the 4th inning however. After once again walking the lead off hitter, and once again seeing that runner gunned down trying by Moreno, hard contact ensued. Henry gave up four straight hits, including a two-run double by Ruiz, but bore down and made the pitches he needed to, getting out of the inning with a ground out and a strikeout. There were two more base hits in the fifth inning, but the second one was a bloop fly ball that Alek Thomas broke back on that should have been caught. Henry got out of that jam too, and spoke about making the big pitches in big games.
"Those I feel like are the pitches that make and define who a pitcher is", Henry said. "When it comes down to it, you've just go to make the big pitches when they matter. They had a lot of momentum at that time and thankfully I was in the position where I could trust the defense behind me. I felt like all I need to do was get aggressive again and get back to being on the white of the plate."
Meanwhile Gore settled down after the Rivera homer, giving up just four singles through five innings. The D-backs scratched out the tying run in the 6th inning with a couple of singles, a walk, a sac bunt and a wild pitch. They then took a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning thanks to a leadoff triple by Alek Thomas and an RBI single by Ketel Marte. They scored three more in the 8th inning to widen the lead to 6-2.
Overall It was a big day for the offense, as they totaled 16 hits, and four walks. Eight of the hits came over the final three innings against the Nationals bullpen. Gurriel had four hits, with three singles to go with the homer, Christian Walker had a three hit day, and Thomas had two hits, as did Rivera.
The D-backs record is now 19-14 and they remain a half game back of the Dodgers who also won today. They will go for the series sweep tomorrow at 1:10 P.M. MST. Ryne Nelson will toe the rubber for the D-backs facing Trevor Williams for the Nationals.
