Diamondbacks rally in 9th to take down Royals, latest series

The Arizona Diamondbacks stay undefeated in July, and by undefeated I mean they haven’t lost a series since late June. An 8-6 win against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday has now made it seven straight series.

After the D-backs didn’t capitalize on a few small chances to add runs beyond three early solo home runs, Gabriel Moreno bopped a one-out, two-RBI double to right-center in the top of the ninth to give Arizona that lead it would hold.

GO AHEAD, GABI. pic.twitter.com/FFffIZQI1i

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 25, 2024

Corbin Carroll followed with a single and then Ketel Marte’s latest insurance bomb of the series went to center for a three-run blast.

THREE DAYS STRAIGHT. 😤 pic.twitter.com/PumOhI8yML

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 25, 2024

Marte homered in all three games in Kansas City.

The first run of the game was recorded in the top of the second inning via Eugenio Suarez.

GENOOOOOOOOOOOO! 👀 pic.twitter.com/0qQU8uV86u

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 25, 2024

Suarez’s phenomenal bounce-back July continues. He entered the month with six home runs and has doubled that number to a dozen. His 19th RBI of July is more than he had in May and June combined (14). Suarez came into the day with a .948 OPS in July after sitting at a .591 mark at the end of June.

Two innings later is when Joc Pederson and Christian Walker went back-to-back.

JOC POP #200! pic.twitter.com/SdAnZBhyYQ

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 25, 2024

C-Walk around the bases. 🚶 pic.twitter.com/nPB0qAHL3a

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 25, 2024

This was a needed power injection from the heart of the order. Pederson hadn’t homered since July 5 and it was a day earlier for Walker’s last, which came during his explosion at Dodger Stadium. This was the 200th of Pederson’s career. He became the 376th player in history to achieve that feat and ranks 31st among active players.

This was strange to see against Royals starter Michael Wacha, a pitcher normally solid at preventing long balls. Wacha’s allowed just 1.1 homers per nine innings over his 11-year career and had a 0.8 mark this season, a top-30 mark among starters with at least 10 outings, per Stathead. It was the first time in 43 outings that Wacha has given up at least three, which goes back to the end of the 2022 season in October when he did it last.

A Suarez two-out double in the fourth inning, a leadoff double by Geraldo Perdomo in the fifth and a leadoff hit-by-pitch plus stolen base for Corbin Carroll in the eighth set up three potential windows to score. Arizona went 0-for-6 in the at-bats with runners in scoring position that followed those hits. Walker’s short flyout in the eighth with one out stung the most given Carroll’s speed at third didn’t require much to score.

Excitement had rightfully picked up around the recent performances put in by D-backs starter Ryne Nelson, a 2.22 ERA across 24.1 innings in July that is the best stretch of his career. He was building up enough momentum to at the very least present a real case to hold a rotation spot as members of it returned from injury.

Wednesday, however, wasn’t all that clean. Nelson pitched six innings and gave up four runs (all earned) on nine hits and two walks. He did limit the damage, though, as Kansas City was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position off the right-hander.

Nelson found trouble in each of the first four innings, twice quickly nipping that in the butt by ending a first-and-third situation with one out via a double play in the first and third inning. A one-out RBI double for Drew Waters in the second only amounted to just that run.

As it turns out, the fourth inning rolled around and Nelson once again put runners on the corners with one out.

Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia tapped a slow hopper to second baseman Ketel Marte, who had the ball bounce off his glove. Fortunately for the D-backs, it ricocheted toward second base where Geraldo Perdomo was waiting to turn a double play. Perdomo extended himself to snag the ball just off the bag before reaching over to tag it and record the out while the run scored. It’s worth noting both the pace of the ball and Garcia’s speed up the line didn’t really have a double play serving as a possibility.

The next batter Kyle Isbel tied the game with a RBI triple and then Nelson threw a wild pitch to give away the lead.

But a tidy seventh inning out of Justin Martinez and eighth via Joe Manitply was the slice of proper execution to put the D-backs in position for the victory.

Paul Sewald got the ninth and the appearance broke his streak of five straight scoreless outings, a run that came after blowing three saves in a row that prompted a portion of the fanbase to call for a change at closer. A two-out, two-RBI single for Vinnie Pasquantino made things interesting, letting Salvador Perez represent the game-tying run before he flew out to left for the end of the ball game.

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