PHOENIX — Christian Walker's first profession house run lifted the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 within the tenth inning of Tuesday's sport, which began two hours late after a bee delay.
Supervisor Torey Lovullo informed Walker to hit the ball to the “effin” moon earlier than the at-bat, and Walker obliged with a 426-footer off a commerce from Dodgers reliever Nabil Crismatt.
Bee – consider it! Christian Walker's second homer of the sport is a #leave for @Dbacks! pic.twitter.com/tml265wKK0
— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2024
It was a fast, decisive finish to a sport that ended practically 5 hours after the unique begin time, and it marked Arizona's second win of the yr (14-17).
“Superb,” Walker stated. “I really feel like that spot comes up quite a bit in bonuses with the man on second and I'm centered on perhaps getting the runner over, attempt to recover from that. Torey got here in earlier than the at-bat and supreme confidence: “Go do what you usually do, let it fly, let's win the sport.” That was good. That was a bit of little bit of an edge that I wanted.”
“I felt prefer it was a very good matchup for him, the way in which he's closed,” Lovullo added. “So we had a second there and laughed about it.
Walker homered twice on Tuesday and drove in three of Arizona's 4 runs on an evening when the offense struggled with runners on board. Gabriel Moreno hit the tying run with one out within the eighth off Daniel Hudson, ending an 0-10 streak for Arizona with runners in scoring place.
Nonetheless, a base working error saved the sport tied 2-2 going into the ninth. Moreno had an opportunity to attain on Corbin Carroll's double, however he slowed when he moved to 3rd and stayed there.
Scott McGough entered within the tenth inning to face the top-ranked Dodgers (19-13) and had the bases loaded with one out. He escaped with solely Manfred Man scoring.
What did Torey Lovullo say to Christian Walker earlier than his game-winning at bat? pic.twitter.com/JJp40724x0
— Alex Weiner (@alexjweiner) May 1, 2024
The Diamondbacks dealt with the troublesome activity of taking over MLB's prime offense with sudden bullpen play introduced on by the delay.
The 6:40 p.m. begin was modified to eight:35 p.m. after a colony of bees settled on the protecting netting behind house plate. The Diamondbacks needed to get a pest killer on the road, and Matt Hilton drove from his son's tee-ball sport in Shock to cope with the bees to thunderous applause.
“We have been in a cage watching, they’d a digicam zoomed proper in on her,” Walker stated. “So it seemed like the very best view in the home.
D-backs starter Jordan Montgomery was minutes away from taking the mound in his first house sport with the membership, however Arizona scratched him after two hours of relaxation.
“Whenever you're in a position to undergo that sport, scratch your starter due to one thing you possibly can by no means predict, and the bullpen goes out and retains him in vary all night time, I'm happy with this group,” Lovullo stated.
D-backs supervisor Torey Lovullo talks in regards to the Bees' delay in a postgame press convention. pic.twitter.com/JK4K52HlqS
— Arizona Sports activities (@AZSports) May 1, 2024
Regardless of the sudden adjustments, Arizona held Los Angeles' killer trio of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman to 2-for-12 with six strikeouts and three walks.
Brandon Hughes, a left-hander recalled from Triple-A Reno earlier than the sport, began and Arizona used seven pitchers to get by way of 10 innings — Hughes, Bryce Jarvis, Justin Martinez, Joe Mantiply, Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel and McGough.
Jarvis and Thompson have been particularly very important as they’d 5 shutouts between them.
Hughes discovered himself beginning 45 minutes earlier than taking the mound and pitched a scoreless first inning.
“One among my buddies despatched me a screenshot on Google of honey bees and the way they have been an indication of fine luck again within the day,” Hughes stated. “It was truly a bit of deeper, how they use teamwork and cooperation. I imply it was a whole staff win.”
There was a chance that Tuesday's sport could possibly be pushed again to Wednesday, Thursday or August. As an alternative, it marked a spotlight reel victory that capped an in any other case troublesome month of D-backs baseball between shut losses and accidents.
Arizona has two one-run wins in its final three contests.
“This staff wanted that second, it was good to see them have a good time on the court docket the way in which they did,” Lovullo stated.
Montgomery received't wait lengthy for his alternative, as he’ll begin on Wednesday and transfer Zac Gallen till Friday in opposition to the San Diego Padres.
The Diamondbacks finish their three-game collection with the Dodgers on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will begin for LA
Catch the sport on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports activities app.