LOS ANGELES -- All summer long, even after selling at the Trade Deadline, the Diamondbacks have insisted they weren’t out of postseason contention. Even as they slipped to 6 1/2 games back in the National League Wild Card race, Arizona remained upbeat on its chances.
Over the past two nights at Dodger Stadium, the D-backs have backed up that confidence.
After shutting out the defending champions, 3-0, in the series opener on Friday -- behind an 8-K gem from the resurgent Zac Gallen -- the D-backs won, 6-1, on Saturday to take the series and move to 5 1/2 games back of the third NL Wild Card spot with 25 games to play. They’ve won four in a row and eight of their last 11.
“When we come into a very hostile environment, against arguably one of the best teams in baseball, and win the first two games, you’re doing a lot right,” said manager Torey Lovullo. “I want us to continue doing a lot right. Because when it shows up, we’re going to win baseball games against anybody that we’re playing against.”
The D-backs were no-hit through 5 1/3 innings before Ildemaro Vargas’ infield single ended Tyler Glasnow’s bid for history. Corbin Carroll then led off the seventh inning with a first-pitch home run, his 28th of the year. With his eighth-inning double, Carroll moved into the NL lead with 71 extra-base hits, tied for first in MLB with Aaron Judge.
Arizona tacked on two more runs in the seventh on a Gabriel Moreno sacrifice fly that was aided by a throwing error from Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages, and closed the door with a three-run shot from Vargas in the ninth.
The D-backs have weathered a slew of injuries this year -- including to Vargas and Moreno -- and the departure of key players like Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor and Merrill Kelly. They’ve had to forge a new identity on the fly.
“We’ve got a lot of younger players stepping into this lineup, and Vargas as well,” said Carroll. “I just feel like everyone’s playing pretty free. It’s been fun to watch and be a part of. Definitely just feel some of that new energy, it’s infectious.”
Eduardo Rodriguez followed up Gallen’s masterpiece with a scoreless six-inning quality start, striking out four and walking four. He had entered Saturday with a 7.43 ERA in six career regular-season starts vs. the Dodgers, but kept L.A. at bay, inducing key double plays in the fifth and six to escape jams -- with help from a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. outfield assist that survived an L.A. challenge.
“Glasnow was tough. He was going at it,” Lovullo said. “He had no-hitter intentions, you could tell by the way he was taking the mound in between innings. Eddie just let us get our footing. He didn’t back down, and he threw up as many zeros as Glasnow did. The home run by Corbin was the first blink, and we took advantage of it.”
In addition to the double plays, third baseman Blaze Alexander made an impressive play in the bottom of the fourth to cut down Freddie Freeman with a diving tag.
“That was what was most thrilling for me,” Lovullo said of his team’s defense. “I got up and said several times, ‘That is D-back defense,’ and that’s why we’re in the space that we’re in. ... Those are the things that we work on. When we do it right, it saves outs and gets us back into the dugout.”
The D-backs still have their work cut out for them if they hope to leapfrog three more teams on their way to a Wild Card spot. But winning a series on the road in L.A. to wrap up August is a critical step.
“Every game counts,” said Rodriguez. “If it’s the Dodgers or anybody else, we just go out there and try to win every game. That’s what we have to do right now, and we don’t focus on where we’re at in the standings or something like that. We just focus on winning every game and whatever happens, happens.”
The only thing better than a series win would be a sweep, which would also bring Arizona back to .500.
“Obviously in the position we are right now, all these wins matter a ton,” said Carroll. “So, to be able to come in here and take at least two out of three from a really good team is obviously crucial. It’d be awesome to finish it out tomorrow.”