D-backs walk off a wild one to beat Brewers in extras

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks walked off the Milwaukee Brewers in the 10th inning on Sunday, as Eugenio Suarez blasted a deep fly ball off the wall for a “resilient” 11-10 victory.

The D-backs rallied for three straight hits to start the 10th inning from Adrian Del Castillo, Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll off Brewers lefty Jared Koenig. Christian Walker tied the game with a hit-by-pitch, still with no outs, and Suarez muscled a 3-1 sinker to deep right. Milwaukee left its two-time All-Star closer, Devin Williams, in the bullpen.

Arizona (83-66) avoided a three-game sweep at home after it led 5-0, trailed 8-5, tied the game 8-8 and fell behind 10-8 in a near-four-hour marathon.

Eugenio Suárez walks it off for the @Dbacks! pic.twitter.com/IAqzdSsFu2

— MLB (@MLB) September 16, 2024

“Crazy game,” Suarez said.

“The at-bat Del Castillo had left-on-left and then Corbin had a good at-bat too, base hit, all those little things that’s why I hit that walk-off. They gave me an opportunity to be at the plate with that situation. I never thought to hit a homer or whatever. I just tried to put one in play, clear my mind, see a ball as long as I can, pick one good pitch to swing at.”

wheeee! pic.twitter.com/DlSDSNzR0S

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 16, 2024

Brewers red-hot rising star Jackson Chourio delivered the go-ahead double off Arizona reliever Justin Martinez with two outs in the top of the 10th.

Diamondbacks acting manager Jeff Banister chose to intentionally walk the speedy Brice Turang ahead of Chourio. D-backs skipper Torey Lovullo spent Sunday at a celebration of life for his late friend Billy Bean.

“I walked him right into their hottest hitter, I know that. That’s on me,” Banister said. “I take that responsibility. It came down to a little bit of the math for me … Turang is a contact-type guy who has been really good this year. Chourio has been really good this year. If we had to face Chourio and (Willy) Adames, two right-handers against our best guy out of the bullpen, right-handed, I’d rather have whatever pitches he had left against those two guys.”

Chourio drove in five runs on Sunday, including a three-run shot off Zac Gallen after the D-backs led 5-0.

Arizona’s Blake Walston, called up from Triple-A Reno before the game, earned his first career win by striking out Adames to end the top of the 10th.

Arizona improved to 5-8 in extra innings. It has nine walk-off wins and 30 comeback wins this season. The D-backs are one victory away from matching last year’s total of 84.

“I mean, that just kind of speaks to the culture in here,” Gallen said of the win. “It was a good game, obviously on the pitching side, we’d like to not rely so much on the offense, but it is nice because those guys are there and they tend to pick us up more often than not.”

Zac Gallen’s start

Gallen threw five innings with three earned runs on 98 pitches. He exited with a 5-3 lead, as the D-backs rallied for two in the first and scored three more courtesy of a Pavin Smith bases-clearing double in the third.

Gallen was in a bind immediately, as the first four Brewers hitters worked full counts, two of whom walked. Gallen threw a scoreless first inning, but it took 28 pitches.

Milwaukee put the lead-off man on board in four of Gallen’s five innings and finally broke through in the fifth. Chourio’s homer ended Gallen’s 18-straight scoreless innings streak.

“I was on a pretty good run at keeping offenses at bay,” Gallen said. “So just to allow one swing to ruin it kind of sucks.”

He finished with seven strikeouts and forced 14 whiffs. Arizona has won his last three starts.

Gallen said he regretted a couple of moments, including the pitch to Chourio he wanted low-and-away that crept in. He also wished to make a defensive play. Otherwise, he felt Sunday was one of his best starts for the fastball in particular this season.

With Ryne Nelson on the injured list and inconsistency throughout the rotation and bullpen at this point, getting as much out of Gallen as possible becomes that much more pertinent. He was not dominant on Sunday, but he pitched well enough to give the club chances to win.

Tough day for bullpens

The Diamondbacks quickly lost the lead after Gallen’s exit, though, as Kevin Ginkel failed to record three outs before allowing four runs. Brewers backup catcher Eric Haase pounded the game-tying homer, while Adames followed a two-homer game Saturday with a go-ahead double.

Ryan Thompson allowed the eighth Brewers run, but the Diamondbacks’ offense continued to find ways to claw back in.

Two scored in the seventh inning from a Geraldo Perdomo RBI single and Randal Grichuk RBI double. Grichuk was scratched from the lineup with “lower-body tightness” and replaced with Smith before he pinch-hit. Kevin Newman pinch-ran for Grichuk at second base.

Carroll tied the game on a manufactured run in the eighth inning. He walked, stole second, advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Suarez.

Suarez drove in three runs, increasing his RBI total to 95.

Milwaukee scored seven runs (six earned) against Arizona’s bullpen, although the D-backs tagged a daunting Brewers bullpen with six runs.

Gabriel Moreno returns

The D-backs activated catcher Gabriel Moreno from the injured list pregame, and he came up off the bench in a big spot in the seventh inning. Pinch-hitting for catcher Jose Herrera, Moreno hit into a fielder’s choice, as Newman was thrown out at third base. Del Castillo entered the game to catch the following inning.

“We knew we had him available, but it was pinch-hit only knowing that he caught yesterday,” Banister said.

Diamondbacks’ next series

The D-backs travel to Coors Field for three games at the Colorado Rockies starting Monday.

Arizona gets four more cracks against Milwaukee at American Family Field in a series that begins Thursday.

Sunday’s win coincided with losses by the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, giving the D-backs a two-game cushion as the second wild card team.

The opener in Denver begins at 5:40 p.m. on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.

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