Jordan Lawlar walks-off Giants, as D-backs earn season series tiebreaker: ‘It’s getting real’

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks overcame a 4-0 deficit to earn a 6-5 walk-off win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night, securing the season series tiebreaker and remaining 1.5 games back from a playoff spot with 10 games left.

The moment was set up for rookie Jordan Lawlar, who came up in a dream spot for any hitter: bases loaded, nobody out, bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied.

Lawlar fell behind in the count but managed to poke a grounder to the right side on a half swing.

Once the ball got past Giants closer Ryan Walker, Lawlar knew the game was over. Corbin Carroll bursted down the third-base line and slid in ahead of the throw. Lawlar’s teammates mobbed him in right field.

Lawlar & Order pic.twitter.com/0s9nFJPqsT

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 17, 2025

“I just wanted to put the ball in play,” Lawlar said. “That’s really all I was trying to do, put the ball in play. …  A win for the team is a win for the team. It doesn’t matter how it happens.”

It was the first career walk-off hit for Lawlar and the seventh walk-off win for the Diamondbacks this season.

Arizona (77-75) kept pace with the Mets at 1.5 games back from the third National League Wild Card spot, as New York defeated San Diego on Tuesday, 8-3. In addition, Arizona’s lead over the Giants and Cincinnati Reds grew to 1.5 games.

The Diamondbacks have won four straight contests, and the message from manager Torey Lovullo after the celebration was clear:

“It’s getting real, that’s what I can say,” Lovullo said. “It’s getting real, but we gotta keep grinding.”

‘It’s getting real’

The playoff implications from the win extend beyond the head-to-head tiebreaker with San Francisco. The Diamondbacks and Mets split their season series this year, and the next tiebreaker is record within the division.

NL West wins are gold for the Diamondbacks, and they are 25-20 in division games. The Mets are 23-23.

The Diamondbacks have seven more division games, starting with a chance to sweep San Francisco on Wednesday. They also play the Dodgers and Padres down the stretch.

“It’s what you work all year for, to be in a position like this,” Carroll said. “The fact that it’s versus an opponent who is in the exact same position as us makes it that much more fun. … We still need the Mets to lose. But on the other hand, we’re right in there. Just gotta keep playing well and stacking wins in order to get in.”

Diamondbacks mount comeback

The Giants took a 4-0 lead in the first inning after rallying against Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez allowed one run over his previous three starts, but he surrendered five earned runs in five innings on Tuesday.

The Diamondbacks responded with three runs in the second inning, two from an Adrian Del Castillo home run on a hanging breaking ball from Giants starter Tristan Beck.

Arizona knotted the game up in the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles from Ketel Marte and Carroll.

From there, the D-backs struggled to break the tie, stranding runners in scoring position in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings. They finished 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position, building inning after inning without taking a lead.

At the same time, Arizona’s bullpen was nails. The Giants did not record a hit after the third inning, as John Curtiss, Brandyn Garcia, Ryan Thompson and Andrew Saalfrank shut down an offense that looked locked in to start the game.

Carroll led off the ninth inning with a single, his third hit of the night. Gabriel Moreno walked, Blaze Alexander bunted and reached base on an error. Arizona dropped four sacrifice bunts in this game, a season high.

Lawlar came up hitting .348 since he snapped his hitless streak to start the year in MLB, and against a pitch that had given him so much trouble — a down-and-away breaking ball from a right-handed pitcher — he was able to make something happen.

“You just black out,” Lawlar said of the moments after. “I saw Blaze at second. I saw the whole team coming. I was just looking for guys. Blaze gave me the point to get me back in the moment. I jumped up with him and we just had fun.”

With nine players recording hits, a dominant bullpen performance and strong defense after the first inning, the Diamondbacks did a lot right once again.

When asked about the style of baseball the Diamondbacks are playing, Alexander used the word gritty.

“The success of a team always breeds confidence,” Lovullo said. “Winning makes all the bad go away. … We’re doing a lot right, and when you do it right and you’re not getting lucky, you start to feel good about it.”

Up next for Diamondbacks

The final game of the series begins Wednesday at 12:40 p.m. MST.

Brandon Pfaadt will start for Arizona, while Justin Verlander will go for San Francisco.

Catch the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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