Bittersweet win: D-backs mount remarkable comeback after Christian Walker injury

PHOENIX — Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo described his state as euphoric having watched his club climb back from down by six runs to walk-off the Washington Nationals on Monday, 9-8.

Corbin Carroll, through all the ups and downs of his sophomore season, came off the bench and hit his first walk-off home run. It capped a five-run ninth inning off All-Star closer Kyle Finnegan.

Ketel Marte continued his MVP-caliber play with a two-run homer preceding Carroll’s big moment, his third hit. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., for the second straight night, battled for a nine-pitch at-bat with his back against the wall and singled to set up the game winner.

CORBIN CARROLL PINCH-HIT WALKOFF HOME RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/923dqFuPzY

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 30, 2024

“I thought I hit a fastball, but I guess it was a splitter because it was 91 at the top of the zone, obviously not what he wanted,” Carroll said. “I knew I got it really pure, it was low so I didn’t know right off the bat.”

“That’s the type of player Corbin is. I’ve said it all the time. He’s the best player we have here,” Marte said via Spanish interpreter. “He’s one of the best players in the league.”

Lovullo called it a character win, but even with impossible odds stacked against the D-backs, their players in the clubhouse postgame were not surprised.

“We’ve been saying it all year. Joe Mather said it at the beginning of the last series, we’re never out of the game,” Carroll said. “And that’s truly how it’s it’s felt. It’s not over till it’s over.”

The call for the Answerbacks to return echoed throughout the first half of the season, when the roster was banged up and two-run deficits felt like more. That is no longer the case, even evident in losses like Sunday when the D-backs scored three in the bottom of the 10th but fell 6-5 or on July 14 when they erased a 7-0 deficit against Toronto.

Monday started as poorly as a game could possibly go. The Nationals put up five runs in the first inning off starter Jordan Montgomery and led 6-0 before the end of the second.

Christian Walker exited the game with left oblique soreness, the team called it, and Arizona had to keep going without its clean-up hitter — more on that later.

“We got flattened,” Lovullo said.

A Gurriel outfield assist kept a run off the board in the fifth inning, and the offense chipped away with one run in the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth inning. Arizona’s first three runs were all with two outs, the first of which was a double from Newman, who was freshly inserted into the game for Walker.

“Those are important features to me and this organization, that you charge the baseball and you one-hop your catcher so we can apply that type of tag, pick up bunt plays and make accurate throws. Those things show up. When you don’t do it well, it will cost you games. When you do it well, we end up winning the game because of it today,” Lovullo said.

A deep flyout by Eugenio Suarez with two on to end the eighth inning felt like a final gasp, but not for the dugout. Not for Alek Thomas, who put aside an 0-for-3 start and led off the ninth inning with a triple. Not for Geraldo Perdomo, who was down 0-2 but drove Thomas in with a single in front of Marte.

“That’s the type of team we are,” Marte said.

Ketel Marte’s 2-run laser brings the @Dbacks within a run in the 9th! pic.twitter.com/fVL6DZ6awK

— MLB (@MLB) July 30, 2024

Yet, Monday was bittersweet. Walker’s injury could have serious ramifications for the rest of the season.

Lovullo said his concern was “not minimal” and that Walker would have imaging Tuesday morning. The D-backs continue to play the best baseball they have all year with an MLB-high 17 wins since June 29. They are a half-game back of the third wild card spot and are getting closer to having a full rotation with Eduardo Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly.

This would be another tall roadblock on their way to the postseason, and given everything Walker has meant every single day both offensively and defensively, one unlike anything they have had to overcome before. They could certainly use Monday being a “catalyst” moment for Carroll.

The Diamondbacks will have a better idea the severity of Walker’s injury on Tuesday before they suit back up to try and capture a fifth straight series victory.

Follow @alexjweiner