MINNEAPOLIS -- Somehow, some way, the Diamondbacks are still alive in the NL Wild Card race and they aren't about to quibble about why or how; they're just going to play out these last 12 games of the season and see where it takes them.
"We just keep chugging along," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "The mentality is every single day brings a new adventure to us, and we're just going to ride it the best way we know how, and that's play hard, have great expectations to do it right, win a baseball game and move on to the next day."
With the Mets, who currently hold the No. 3 Wild Card spot, snapping their eight-game losing streak Sunday, the Diamondbacks still trail them by two games in the standings.
It's all house money at this point for Arizona, which, after being decimated by injuries and selling off veterans at the Trade Deadline, has relied on contributions from unlikely places.
Sunday's 6-4 win against the Twins at Target Field was a good example of that.
James McCann was the offensive hero, hitting a homer and driving in four runs. The veteran catcher was playing for the Braves' Triple-A team in June when Arizona starting catcher Gabriel Moreno suffered an injury.
McCann requested and was granted his release as part of his agreement with the Braves, and the Diamondbacks quickly signed him and he's been a contributor ever since.
"[He has] a calmness," Lovullo said. "A couple of those mound visits, he just walks out there like he's walking down the street to talk to one of his buddies. And when you see that there's a presence about that moment. So you can't say enough about his experience and the conversations he's having in those key situations. And then the at-bat was fantastic, hit the big three-run home run that broke the game open."
With Moreno having returned, McCann has been relegated to a backup role and has missed time recently due to a back issue. However, even when he hasn't played, his presence has certainly helped the younger Moreno.
"We're all pulling the same direction," McCann said. "It's what you dream of, right, being in the hunt in the middle of September."
McCann's homer backed starter Nabil Crismatt, another unlikely contributor.
During Spring Training, it seemed the Diamondbacks had an abundance of starting pitching. So much so that Ryne Nelson, their best pitcher at the moment, was relegated to the bullpen. But injuries, including one to ace Corbin Burnes, chipped away at that depth and then at the Trade Deadline, Arizona parted with right-hander Merrill Kelly.
Initially, Anthony DeSclafani, who was in Triple-A with the Yankees when he was released, filled the hole in the rotation. When he got hurt, the Diamondbacks signed Crismatt, who had been released from Triple-A by the Phillies.
Crismatt allowed just two unearned runs over five innings to earn the win. He is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in four starts and one game in which he threw the bulk of innings after an opener.
"He did a fantastic job of delivering when we needed him most," Lovullo said. "We were extremely thin in the bullpen [today]."
The Diamondbacks still have very little margin for error down the stretch and they will keep their fingers crossed and their eyes on a pair of banged-up players.
The first is third baseman Blaze Alexander, who took over at the position when Eugenio Suárez was dealt at the Trade Deadline. Alexander has been a sparkplug in the team's resurgence.
Sunday, he was hit in the left elbow by a pitch, and while he stayed in the game to run the bases, he departed in the bottom half of the inning. Initial tests did not show any breaks, but his elbow was very swollen postgame.
In addition, left-hander Andrew Saalfrank, one of the team's most reliable options in the bullpen, has been held out of the last two games. Lovullo said he was "nursing some tenderness in his left arm."
Saalfrank said after the game that his shoulder was bothering him a little, but he was optimistic he would be good to go Monday.