Diamondbacks’ Ryan Waldschmidt hits walk-off home run in stunning comeback over Cubs

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks had no business winning Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, and yet, there they were at the end, jumping all over Ryan Waldschmidt at home plate.

The rookie blasted his second walk-off home run of the season to give the Diamondbacks a 5-4 victory, despite trailing by four runs earlier. It was their MLB-leading 40th comeback win of the year.

And Waldschmidt did so as a pinch hitter. No Diamondbacks rookie had ever hit a pinch-hit, walk-off home run before.

Ryan Waldschmidt has three career home runs …

Two of them are walk-offs 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/7UN2ow7uhS

— MLB (@MLB) August 26, 2026

The Cubs led 4-0 entering the bottom of the eighth inning and had outscored Arizona 11-0 over the first 16 innings of this series. It had looked like a mismatch.

Arizona’s offense showed few signs of life against Cubs starter Clay Holmes. Ironically, the D-backs had a deal in place for Holmes at the trade deadline, which the New York Mets backed out of and rerouted him to Chicago.

To make matters worse, center fielder Jordan Lawlar got drilled in the head by a Daniel Palencia 98.5 mph fastball in the eighth inning and had to come out of the game — he passed concussion protocols and will play on Wednesday.

What felt like another “Great, what else could possibly go wrong?” moment actually became an opening the D-backs had an opportunity to take advantage of.

How the Diamondbacks came back against Chicago

With two on and two outs, the Diamondbacks received their biggest break of the night.

Gabriel Moreno hit a check-swing double down the first-base line to end the shutout. He didn’t even run initially.

Geraldo Perdomo followed with a two-run single, and out of nowhere, the D-backs were right back in business, down 4-3.

“We haven’t had a lot of really positive momentum and good vibes, we’ve been dealing with some stuff,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I thought, yeah, there’s a good little break. And then we didn’t quit there.”

Waldschmidt was on the bench at this point, and as Lovullo described, Arizona’s hitting coaches were pounding the table for Waldschmidt to get a chance in the ninth inning.

With two outs and a runner aboard, Waldschmidt went up to the plate against Cubs reliever Jacob Webb and became the fifth player in MLB history to have two of his first three major league home runs come as walk-offs, according to Sarah Langs.

Lovullo let out a long sigh as he sat for his postgame press conference.

He had to answer more questions about Ketel Marte’s absence and a pitch-stealing dispute before the game. He had to run out onto the field when right fielder Corbin Carroll collided with second baseman Ildemaro Vargas while they attempted to catch a pop-up (they were both fine), and again when Lawlar got plunked.

“That was fun,” a spent and relieved Lovullo said after the walk-off win. “These boys don’t quit.”

Diamondbacks continue to survive

Three of Arizona’s last four wins have been grinders, as they came back from down 3-0 on Sunday against Cincinnati and won in extra innings to salvage their final game at Fenway Park last Wednesday, its first win since Marte no-showed.

Resilience has become the Diamondbacks’ selling point that this team can make the postseason with their ability to stay on course through so many issues.

Their star second baseman remains absent (with a plan to play next week). The pitching staff has more starters on the injured list than in the rotation.

The Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres — the two clubs directly ahead of Arizona in the wild card standings — have been the hottest teams in MLB over the past month.

They both lost on Tuesday, however, so this Diamondbacks team (70-63) scratching out wins is only one game back of the third National League Wild Card spot.

“We as a team lead Major League Baseball in come-from-behind wins, so I think that just says a lot about all of us,” Waldschmidt said.

“We’re resilient,” starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt said. “That’s the fun part about our team is we’re never out of it. Like we saw tonight and we’ve seen in the past, we play until the last out and that’s the fun part.”

Arizona’s recent records:

• 5-5 in last 10 games
• 10-10 in last 20 games

Playing .500 ball is not ideal, obviously, but it has been good enough to stay right in the thick of this race.

What happens when Marte returns?

Or Corbin Burnes?

Who can say? But the D-backs have to play well enough to give the best possible version of themselves a realistic chance to get on a run.

For now, they are grinding out enough wins to do so.

“That’s just ingrained in them, that they’re going to fight together every single day until the final out,” Lovullo said. “And they have a great makeup.”

Remaining in striking distance is going to be hard. There is a rubber match to play on Wednesday, an opportunity to build on the momentum from a galvanizing walk-off.

Staff ace Eduardo Rodriguez is pitching against Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, and the D-backs are a much better offense against lefties.

They play four games against a lowly San Francisco Giants team, but that series has the massive catch of Arizona having to call up potentially three starting pitchers to get through it. Then the Phillies come to Chase Field, and Marte’s potential return will invite a whole lot of attention.

But each win like Tuesday’s strengthens the belief that this group can keep going, even when it doesn’t seem realistic.

Ryan Waldschmidt’s moment

Waldschmidt spent most of his time in the batting cages working on facing lefties during Tuesday’s game. He figured that would be the likely matchup if he came in to hit, but that changed when Lawlar went down.

If that spot in the order came up again, he knew he had a chance to do something special for the team.

When he stepped up to the plate, Waldschmidt said he was more excited than nervous. He had been in a spot like that before when he hit a walk-off home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But something else was going on, too.

“I just kind of went up there, and I wanted to have fun with it. I had a smile on my face,” Waldschmidt said. “I was just really grateful for the opportunity to be in the major leagues, getting to pinch hit in the ninth inning with a chance to win the game.

“I think when you look at it with that perspective, it makes life a lot easier to go up there and just have fun and play relaxed. I am a big believer in trying to take as much pressure off yourself as possible because it’s really hard to perform when all you’re thinking about is success and the results.”

Waldschmidt gave credit to Jose Fernandez for making his job easier. Fernandez pinch ran for Tim Tawa, who walked, and stole second base.

Fernandez took off two pitches before the walk-off, and the Cubs challenged the safe call. The challenge was unsuccessful, which opened the question of whether they iced their own closer.

Either way, having Fernandez on second base made Waldschmidt’s job simpler, as a just single would tie the game.

Waldschmidt said this walk-off felt a bit different than his first one against L.A.

There was no doubt this one was long gone (408 feet).

 

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Pfaadt threw 6.2 innings with four earned runs on Tuesday, while Dennis Santana and Justin Martinez delivered 2.2 scoreless frames in relief.

The D-backs won with five hits for only the seventh time this season.

Tuesday attendance

28,215

Series finale

First pitch is at 12:40 p.m. MST on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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