Diamondbacks 15 @ White Sox 4

Record: 83-74 .529

Pace: 86-76, +12 on 2022

NL Wild Card: A full game above CHC, holding the #5 seed

So I missed this part of the game prepping for my vacation on Thursday (Chicago to pick up a friend - and catch the makeup game - then Seattle - where we’ll see a Mariners/Rangers game - for a cruise to Alaska!), but the early notifications didn’t make me clean and pack any faster...

From the box score, I glean Urena put Arizona down in the first and Davies was unable to match. Jimenez (received mid-rebuild for Jose Quintana from the Cubs alongside Cease) hit a three-run home run... (3-0 CHW). Walker homered to lead off the second at least (3-1 CHW), but nobody else did much. Davies gave up another run, this time to small ball in the bottom half though (4-1 CHW). Luckily, the third saw the Diamondbacks’ future take advantage of Chicago’s mistakes: Perdomo singled, Carroll walked and both advanced on a Marte grounder that should’ve been at least one out but was instead an error resulting in Perdomo scoring and Carroll on third (4-2 CHW)! Pham then sac flew to score Carroll (4-3 CHW)!

While the offense was unable to match Chicago at that point, Nelson replaced Davies in the fourth and an entire fanbase sighed in relief. He was dominant for that inning. Perdomo walked and Carroll reached on a Fielder’s Choice when Anderson didn’t actually touch second base. Marte then joined them with a hard hit single up the middle. Based loaded for Pham who let Urena do all the work, taking the RBI walk (4-4 TIE). At this point, Chicago threw Yohan Ramirez out instead. He....uh....was not the tonic as WALKER HIT A BASES CLEARING TRIPLE (7-4 AZ)! And Thomas plated Walker with a chopped Andrew Vaughn wasn’t tall enough to nab (8-4 AZ)! Gurriel singled Thomas to third. Moreno then sac flew Thomas home (9-4 AZ) and Gurriel ran into an out on the throw back in again made this “baseball team” look foolish when no one was covering first and couldn’t chase him down for an out. Peterson grounded into a fielder’s choice and Perdomo grounded out to end the fun, but oh what fun it was!

Nelson kept throwing nails and Walked added a 2-run homerun (11-4 AZ) for the next bit of the game. Less exciting? Perhaps. But still thrilling!

In the top of the seventh, Sammy Peralta pitched and he must’ve been good luck, because Chicago finally successfully turned a double play! They didn’t even have to let the snakes score to do it! But Marte hit a solo homer in the eighth (12-4 AZ)! lol

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Ryne Nelson finally came out in favor of Bryce Jarvis. His outing was nothing less than outstanding. For him, the team, the playoff hopes, the bullpen. Just all around phenomenal.

In the top of the ninth, Arizona scored 3 more times on a Perdomo triple and a Carroll sac fly (15-4). Kyle Nelson got the bottom half and somehow managed to not give up a run, securing the blowout win!

ARIZONA 15, CHICAGO 4 WIN

Conclusion

This game did not start well. Which is unsurprising since Davies was on the mound. But it finished well. What Davies was unable to do, Ryne Nelson excelled at tonight. He truly shined tonight. If he could be the next Archie Bradley for the team, wowzah that’ll be exciting!

The offense also shone bright. Walker had himself a HUGE game with 2 home runs and an RBI triple pushing himself over 100 RBI on the season and into the 30HR/100RBI club! Perdomo was also hot at the plate with Carroll and Marte producing too. Lawlar did get his shot late game, but it was not to be; he was not ready to be up, but there is now no other option for his spot with Ahmed gone. I will not be looking forward to seeing him play in October.

Personal Conclusion

It has once again been an honor to recap games for you this season. I look forward to a deep postseason run so I get to do at least one more this year.

Fangraphs

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Up Next

Brandon Pfaadt will attempt to survive the Chicago Wind against the pride of the Southside’s most recent rebuild: TBD. Game time will be 11:10am Arizona Time.