Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte walks off Braves to cap 5-2 homestand

PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte wasted no time in the bottom of the 10th inning on Sunday, rocking a walk-off double on the first pitch from Atlanta Braves reliever Joel Payamps.

Marte’s drive scored Jorge Barrosa from second base for the 6-5 win, Arizona’s first walk-off and extra-inning victory of 2026.

Ketel Marte calls game as the @Dbacks walk it off! 🐍 pic.twitter.com/M5zbZlsrd5

— MLB (@MLB) April 5, 2026

The Diamondbacks split the four-game series with Atlanta and finished their opening homestand with a 5-2 record to get back to .500 at 5-5.

Starting the year 0-3 at Dodger Stadium, the Diamondbacks responded with three straight wins at home over the Detroit Tigers. After dropping the first two games to Atlanta, including an embarrassing 17-2 defeat, the D-backs held on for a pair of one-run victories to hit the road on a high note.

“We are fine, thank God,” Marte said in Spanish. “We have a lot of talent. What we have to do is believe, keep working hard. … When I continue to heat up, and also Geraldo (Perdomo) and some of the boys start to heat up, we will be even better.”

 “It’s a resilient group, kind of a carryover from the team that finished here last year,” catcher James McCann said. “Guys never feeling like we’re out of the game, never feeling like three bad games in a row means the end of the world.”

The D-backs and Braves went back and forth on Easter Sunday.

The Braves were up 1-0, and the D-backs tied it right away. Arizona jumped ahead 3-1, 4-3 and 5-4, but the Braves came back each time until the final blow.

Diamondbacks get offense going

Manager Torey Lovullo called Sunday a mini-breakout for an offense that has been quiet to start the season. The Diamondbacks scored runs in five separate innings.

The D-backs did not hit a home run on Sunday, as this game was a highlight in situational hitting. McCann called it old-school baseball in that sense.

Five Diamondbacks drove in runs on Sunday, and the top two hitters, Marte and Corbin Carroll, combined to go 5-for-9 with three extra-base hits, three runs and two RBIs.

Carroll was the Diamondbacks’ most prolific hitter during the homestand at 8-for-21. He tripled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on Sunday to improve his OPS to 1.066 through 10 games.

“The top of our lineup today did a great job,” Lovullo said. “Sacrifice flies, base hits with runners on third base and less than two outs. Those little things, those situational hitting moments are what carry really good offensive teams. Corbin, huge day, Ketel, huge day. That’s the part of our lineup we know is gonna carry the heavy load, and they did their job today.”

The game started with Marte hitting a double, Carroll moving him over with a groundout and Perdomo delivering a sacrifice fly. These moments of execution came from other areas of the lineup, as well.

Ildemaro Vargas was the standout from the bottom of the order with a two-run triple down the right-field line in the fourth inning off Braves starter Martin Perez.

Vargas did not even start the game, but Carlos Santana left the game with groin tightness, and Vargas played excellent first base defense and reached base three times in his place.

Brandon Pfaadt, D-backs pitching has mixed day vs. Braves

The Diamondbacks’ pitching staff had its hits and misses on Sunday.

Starter Brandon Pfaadt was cruising through four innings with one run but finished with 4.2 frames and three earned runs. He called it a grinder outing, but the bullpen largely picked him up with no earned runs until the ninth inning.

“We had a lot of guys come out of the bullpen and do their jobs. I think that’s what got us the win today,” Pfaadt said. “Kind of a scrappy day, but ultimately to go down 0-2 in the series and fight back as a team, and split the series, I think it’s a big testament to the type of team that we are.”

Reliever Taylor Rashi kept Atlanta off the board in the top of the 10th with a 1-2-3 inning. A backhanded sliding play from Perdomo at shortstop with the infield in kept the ghost runner at third base.

That was after the Braves rallied for three singles off Jonathan Loaisiga to tie the game at 5-5 in the ninth inning. Acting closer Paul Sewald was unavailable after pitching the previous two games. Loaisiga managed to keep the tie intact, and once the game got into extras, it was set up ideally for Arizona.

The Braves already used closer Raisel Iglesias in the ninth inning and had the lower half of the order due up against Rashi. Marte led off the bottom half with a fast runner already in scoring position.

Ketel Marte heating up?

Marte jumped on a changeup over the middle and hit it 109 mph off the bat. He said he was simply aiming to hit a ball to the right side to move the runner over.

The switch-hitter entered the game hitting .152, but with some harder contact lately, Lovullo and Marte felt that it was only a matter of time before he had a performance like Sunday’s with two doubles.

“Baseball’s a grind, and from a hitting standpoint, when you get into a little bit of a rut and you see 25 fielders out there because you’re hitting the ball hard right at people, you get a little frustrated,” Lovullo said. “But I know it doesn’t take much to get him going. This is a good moment for him.”

“I am not desperate, I always trust in my talent,” Marte said.

This was a big week for Marte, who reached 10 years of service time in the major leagues.

Next up for Diamondbacks

The D-backs hit the road for nine games, starting with Tuesday’s matchup against the New York Mets at Citi Field.

Zac Gallen will pitch for Arizona, and right-hander Freddy Peralta is probable for New York.

First pitch on Tuesday is at 4:10 p.m. MST.

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