PHOENIX — Ten days ago, one could argue the most memorable Arizona Diamondbacks games this season had been the several jaw-dropping defeats the club had endured, losses hard to explain and wrap your head around.
The wins are now catching up, not only with the D-backs getting back over .500 (36-34) but how they are doing so.
Just in the last eight days, the Diamondbacks erased a six-run ninth inning deficit to storm back and beat the Atlanta Braves, a franchise first. They overcame blowing a four-run lead with two outs in the ninth inning against Seattle, watching their closer Justin Martinez walk off the mound with the trainer in the process, as Josh Naylor hit a walk-off grand slam in extras.
And on Saturday night, the Diamondbacks trailed 7-3 going into the bottom of the ninth with San Diego Padres closer Robert Suarez entering the game with a league-leading 21 saves. He had not surrendered an earned run in his last 11 appearances.
Single, single, single, strikeout, single set up Geraldo Perdomo to be the hero on Saturday, as he roped a bases-clearing triple into the right-field corner to tie the game.
After a pitching change, Naylor bounced a first-pitch slider from Adrian Morejon to first baseman Luis Arraez. Perdomo was not supposed to take off on a grounder that did not get through, but he made an instinctual call off the bat and got a great jump. He dove in ahead of the tag, giving the D-backs another dramatic victory, 8-7, as they’ve won five games in a row.
GERALDO PERDOMO TIES IT WITH A 3-RUN TRIPLE IN THE 9TH! pic.twitter.com/ub4l9njOeR
— MLB (@MLB) June 15, 2025
“What an emotional investment that was,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “It turned into an unbelievable moment and a great celebration for this team. We didn’t shut down.”
These back-and-forth, down-to-the-wire games are becoming so common, that Perdomo sensed it innings in advance.
“It was kind of crazy because even when we were up in the sixth inning, something going through to my mind was maybe a walk-off base hit or homer,” Perdomo said. “In the bottom of the ninth, when I sat close by Brandon (Pfaadt), he told me, ‘Hey, you’re gonna win the game for us.’ I just looked at him and I started smiling because I was thinking in the last three or four innings the same situation, and thank God it happened. It was a great team effort right there.”
The Diamondbacks have come back from a four-plus-run deficit in the ninth inning three times this season, the first club to do so before the All-Star break since the All-Star Game started in 1933, per OptaStats. As a team, they have scored 39 runs in the ninth inning, which leads the league.
This is a group that just lost its ace Corbin Burnes for the year to Tommy John, lost its closer Justin Martinez for the year and has received a kick to the gut with injury news over the past two weeks. They went 1-9 over a stretch not too long ago, as they started to fall quickly in the standings.
With a June record of 9-3, the D-backs are now only 2.5 games back of the third NL Wild Card spot.
“It’s been wild,” D-backs starter Zac Gallen said. “The Atlanta one didn’t really feel real. It just kind of all really just happened in a blur and next thing you know we were getting on a plane to go to Cincinnati and we just swept the Braves … Obviously on the negative side, we had some ones we let slip away. It’s a long season. It’s 162, so those games are gonna happen here and there. You don’t necessarily want to ride the wave, you kinda want to just ride on top of it and see what happens.”
Geraldo Perdomo said he had a feeling Saturday's game would come down to the wire.
"It was amazing for us." pic.twitter.com/Z1GYj05W8F
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) June 15, 2025
From the 10-run inning in Chicago to the Eugenio Suarez four-homer game to the blown six-run lead against Pittsburgh, the D-backs collected indescribable, unfathomable losses they had to overcome.
Lovullo said he cannot recall a season with this many huge swings, saying the team is still trying to find itself but has started establishing a gritty identity.
“This has probably been a more rugged year than I’ve ever felt,” Lovullo said. “I think the standard is we were here, we were expecting to go off and win a lot of baseball games, and then we took on some injuries, didn’t play good baseball and now we’re in this spot. So yeah, it’s time consuming. I think about it a lot.”
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The rally started with Pavin Smith, who was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and looked outmatched all game. He fell behind 0-2, fouled a couple pitches off and ended up getting a fastball over the middle that he punched into right field.
Gabriel Moreno on a 2-2 count hit a liner to right, and Alek Thomas followed suit with a single to center.
That brought up the top of the order, as Corbin Carroll represented the tying run. He battled for six pitches before striking out.
Ketel Marte did not get much behind a changeup he chopped the other way, but his hustle paid off as he beat the throw to first by the slightest of margins. The call was initially out, but after a review he was deemed safe. The knock extended his on-base streak to 26 games and brought the winning run up in Perdomo.
After fouling off a 98 mph fastball up, Perdomo got his hands around a 90.6 mph changeup down and lined it into the right-field corner. Fernando Tatis Jr. had trouble picking it up, and Perdomo raced around the bases, diving into third base as a still-busy crowd at Chase Field hollered.
The Padres yanked Suarez, not only having blown the lead but throwing 25 pitches, which may impact Sunday’s game.
Naylor got his bat on the ball and that was that.
Win probability is becoming more and more comical for Diamondbacks games, but of course the Padres had a 99% chance to win when up four in the top of the ninth inning.
“You score seven runs in the top of the ninth inning and win a game in Atlanta, you score five in the bottom of the ninth inning here, I think this team knows that they’re able to do something special every single night,” Lovullo said. “There’s 27 outs and they’re gonna play hard until the last one.”
The @Dbacks score FIVE runs in the 9th for the #walkoff win! pic.twitter.com/NSXU2MdYLO
— MLB (@MLB) June 15, 2025
How the Padres took the lead
Long story short, the Diamondbacks led 3-1 after six innings. Gallen allowed one earned run on a Gavin Sheet solo shot but limited damage from there.
Eugenio Suarez hit a go-ahead three-run bomb in the fourth, but the offense didn’t do much else.
Gallen gave up back-to-back hits to lead off the seventh, and with one out, he walked Elias Diaz, who entered the game hitting .211. That brought up the top of the order with the bases loaded. Lovullo went to Ryan Thompson, and the Padres tied the game on a Tatis single and took the lead on a Manny Machado double. Gallen was tagged with four earned runs, ruining what looked like a sure-fire quality start.
San Diego tacked on two more runs in the ninth off Kevin Ginkel (one earned), but it evidently was not enough to hold off Arizona’s scoring avalanche (monsoon? haboob?) in the bottom half.
Diamondbacks’ next game
The D-backs wrap up this series on Sunday at 1:10 p.m.
Merrill Kelly (3.18 ERA) will pitch for Arizona, matching up with San Diego right-hander Nick Pivetta (3.48 ERA).
The D-backs will then embark on a nine-game road trip, starting in Toronto on Tuesday.
Catch Sunday’s finale on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
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