Diamondbacks sweep Giants, as Ketel Marte stays hot from walk-off heroics

PHOENIX — Ketel Marte followed up his walk-off home run on Tuesday night with a dominant all-around effort on Wednesday, reaching base four times in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 6-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.

The D-backs swept the Giants, starting their advantageous Colorado Rockies-Giants-Rockies-Giants stretch of the schedule with a 5-1 record.

Arizona moved to 25-23, two games over .500 for the first time since April 30.

Marte anchored the offense with three hits, as he came up a triple shy of the cycle:

• First inning: Double, run scored
• Third inning: Go-ahead, two-run home run
• Fifth inning: Bunt single, run scored
• Seventh inning: Walk

Marte did not get a chance to hit for the cycle after the walk, but his season OPS climbed back over .700 (.702) for the first time since April 13.

“It’s a long season, you’re always going to be up-and-down, you’re never going to be on top all the time,” Geraldo Perdomo said of Marte. “For me, it’s special every time I see him like this because I never like to see him down.

“He’s been down a couple of times because he knows the type of player he is. And when he doesn’t perform how he needs to perform, he feels really sensitive. So I feel how he feels and I’m proud of what he did today.”

When asked whether he thought about the cycle, Marte admitted that had he hit a ball into the gap during his final plate appearance, he would be thinking third base all the way.

His bunt single took the Giants by surprise and loaded the bases in the game-altering fifth inning. The score was tied at 3-3, and this was the Diamondbacks’ opportunity to suck the air out of the opposing dugout on the verge of getting swept.

Ildemaro Vargas hit a tapper to the right side for an out, but it brought home the go-ahead run. Perdomo, who like Marte has grinded at the plate this season, had himself a moment with a looping double to right field to plate two runners. Perdomo drove in three runs during the game.

The D-backs have scored five-plus runs in six of seven games and have recorded at least nine hits in seven consecutive contests.

And they continued that hot hitting on Wednesday with Corbin Carroll, Nolan Arenado and Gabriel Moreno out of the lineup.

Rookies Jose Fernandez and Ryan Waldschmidt each knocked two singles on Wednesday.

“For us it’s go out there, take a good at-bat and it’s been showing up in the last five, six games,” Perdomo said.

Diamondbacks piling up quality starts

Starting pitcher Merrill Kelly earned the 11th quality start in the Diamondbacks’ last 15 games. A quality start is six-plus innings with three earned runs or fewer, and no team has as many as Arizona in this stretch.

Kelly was not as effective as his complete game against the Rockies on Friday, but he managed to limit damage despite giving up some hard contact, especially early.

The right-hander retired seven of the last eight batters he faced to finish with six innings, three earned runs, eight hits and four strikeouts. He did not walk a batter for the second straight start.

Kelly was done after 85 pitches, as the Diamondbacks wanted to lighten his workload following nine innings in elevation.

Over his last three appearances, Kelly has thrown 22 innings with an ERA of 2.05.

Why did Brandon Pfaadt pitch the 8th?

Brandyn Garcia, Taylor Clarke, Brandon Pfaadt and Paul Sewald shut out the Giants over the final three innings, with Sewald moving to 11-for-12 in save situations.

The move to Pfaadt for the eighth inning in a three-run ballgame was a surprise. Pfaadt has operated as the long man after losing his spot in the rotation, with Juan Morillo pitching primarily in those high-leverage situations.

“I know it’s normally gonna be the Morillo inning right there,” manager Torey Lovullo said.

“I have ridden Juan a little bit, and I felt like getting Brandon an opportunity to get in the game. We were gonna cover him with Juan if we needed it and turn it over to Paul. It was just something we talked about as a staff pregame. Get him an inning, just get that feel back, and he threw the ball really well.”

After an ugly inning over the weekend at Coors Field, Pfaadt came back with a 1-2-3 frame, followed by Sewald’s 1-2-3 inning to end the game. The Giants did not record a hit after the fifth inning, and Arizona’s bullpen has a 2.36 ERA in 45.2 innings during May.

As a pitching staff, Arizona owns a 2.60 ERA over the past 15 days, which ranks third in MLB.

Ketel Marte breaks down his bunt

Marte’s home run was a rocket, blasted 105 mph off the bat and 415 feet to leave no doubts.

He had an opportunity to supply the death blow in his next at-bat, but he saw something that sparked the idea to bunt. He dropped it to the right side, perfectly placed to reach first without a play.

“Just wanted to create opportunities there,” Marte said in Spanish. “I know Vargas was behind me, he’s very hot right now. If the defenders were back, I would try it. If I get the sacrifice, that brings Vargas up to bat.”

Marte said he would bunt a lot more often early in his career with the Seattle Mariners. His last sacrifice bunt was in 2018, but he has occasionally attempted to bunt for hits.

Lovullo said Marte showed some of the best bunt mechanics on the team.

“He saw an opening, I thought it was a great play. Of course, I would love to have him hit a three-run home run, but he turned it over to his brothers, and that’s what we’re about,” Lovullo said.

Kelly said he laughed in the dugout but made the point that the more the Diamondbacks buy into that “chaos” brand of baseball, the better.

Taking advantage of the schedule

The Giants (20-30) and Rockies (19-31) have the two worst records in the National League, giving the Diamondbacks an opening to get on a roll if they played up to their standard.

The six games have not been perfect, but the Diamondbacks have played well in all three phases.

The last time a Diamondbacks starter allowed more than three earned runs was on May 12, while the defense has committed one error over the last eight games.

“I think we’re starting to hit our stride. I still don’t think we’re anywhere close to as good of a team that we could be,” Kelly said.

“But we’re playing better baseball, we’re pitching better, we’re playing better defense. If we can do all that together, it leads to wins. Hopefully we can capitalize on the sweep and keep the momentum going.”

Teams can compete for playoff spots by beating the clubs they are supposed to, and the D-backs are 17-7 against teams under .500 so far.

Wednesday attendance

17,748

Diamondbacks-Rockies probables

The Diamondbacks host the Rockies for four games, starting Thursday.

Probable starting pitchers:

Thursday – LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (4-1, 2.53) vs. TBA

Friday – RHP Michael Soroka (6-2, 3.49) vs. RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (4-3, 4.02)

Saturday – RHP Zac Gallen (2-4, 4.78) vs. RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-6, 7.03)

Sunday – RHP Ryne Nelson (1-3, 5.19) vs. LHP Jose Quintana (2-2, 4.08)

Thursday’s game starts at 6:40 p.m MST, and all four games will air on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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