Brandon Pfaadt K’s 11; Diamondbacks Offense Comes Alive Late For Win Over Rockies

The Arizona Diamondbacks are currently the hottest team in baseball. Coming into tonight’s game, the Diamondbacks had a record of 25-10 since July 1st. The 25 wins were the most in the Majors by four games over the Mets (21 wins).

On top of that, the ‘D-Backs’ had won 15 of their last 18 games, including taking 3 of 4 in their last series against the Philadelphia Phillies. And they have done it all while dealing with some major injury issues up and down the lineup.

Unfortunately, that injury bug hit again for the Diamondbacks early in the first inning. Ketel Marte, who just took a day off yesterday to nurse a sore ankle, appeared to tweak it in his first at bat. He would be replaced in the top of the second inning by Kevin Newman. Newman did a pretty good job filling in as he would go 2-4 with 2 runs.

But before we get to the mid-game magic, the offense that appeared unstoppable against the Phillies, seemed to have stayed in the clubhouse early on. Jake McCarthy did have an RBI double in the bottom of the second, which gave the Diamondbacks the lead, 1-0. But then the offense fell silent over the next three innings.

The Rockies had some early struggles of their own as Brandon Pfaadt had his control working early on with five strikeouts through three innings. Colorado would tie the game up in the third on an RBI single to right by Elias Diaz, scoring Jake Cave from second.

Colorado would score two more times in the top of the 4th on five singles and a sacrifice fly. They would add another run in the top of the sixth inning on a Brendan Rodgers home run to centerfield, bringing the Rockies lead to 4-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Despite giving up the four runs, Brandon Pfaadt would finish through the seventh inning with 11 total strikeouts and zero walks.

The Diamondbacks offense came alive in the bottom of the sixth inning when Josh Bell would hit an RBI double to center, his second double of the game. Jake McCarthy would follow that up with an RBI single, cutting the Rockies lead to just one run, 4-3.

Arizona would take the lead on a crazy sequence of events in the bottom of the seventh. After two quick outs, Corbin Carroll and Kevin Newman would hit back-to-back singles. Corbin Carroll went from first to third on Newman’s single. And then a wild pitch would score Carroll for the tying run, and move Newman from first to third on the play. Another wild pitch happened on the very next pitch, scoring Newman and giving the Diamondbacks the lead for good, 5-4.

Brandon Pfaadt would collect his seventh win on the season. Justin Martinez would get his third save. And the losing pitcher for the Rockies was Anthony Molina.

Three Stars of the Game:
Brandon Pfaadt
Josh Bell
​Jake McCarthy