Elle's Baseball Musings: Arizona Kept the Door Open at Petco
By Elle Elena ·
Friday night was supposed to tidy up the National League's last wild-card mess. Philadelphia arrived at Citizens Bank Park two games up on Arizona with three to play, one win away from a fifth straight October if the Diamondbacks also lost in San Diego. Instead the Rays scored twice early, never gave the Phillies a run, and Arizona spent the evening turning Petco Park into a highlight reel. By the end of the night the Phillies and Diamondbacks were separated by a single game with two left. The door that was supposed to close stayed open.
I like a low-scoring game when it is low-scoring for interesting reasons. Cristopher Sánchez struck out ten over seven innings and still took the loss. That box score made me sit up. Jonny DeLuca's RBI single in the first and Nick Fortes' homer in the second were the entire Rays offense. Freddy Peralta worked into the sixth. Bryan Baker finished it for his 41st save. Two to nothing. Clean. Unfair, if you are a Phillies fan who watched Sánchez deal and still left without a clinch.
The gut punch arrived in the sixth. Trea Turner and Bryce Harper led off with singles. Alec Bohm moved them over. Bryson Stott lined out to second. Pinch hitter Bryan De La Cruz lined out to shortstop. First and third with less than two outs turned into nothing, and Philadelphia's third straight loss became its third straight failed clinch attempt. The Phillies will throw a bullpen game Saturday. That sentence alone tells you how the weekend feels inside that clubhouse.
Three time zones west, Arizona refused to cooperate with anyone's tidy schedule. Lars Nootbaar drove Casey Mize's first pitch into the right-field porch. Geraldo Perdomo tripled home a run and later cleared the bases with a double that bounced off Jackson Merrill's glove and the padded fence. Jordan Lawlar homered. Nolan Arenado deposited his 30th of the year off the Western Metal Supply Co. brick in left for a 6-2 lead. Brandon Pfaadt went 7 2/3 and beat San Diego for the third time this season. Final: Diamondbacks 11, Padres 4.
I will rewind a great defensive play more readily than most home runs, and Friday gave me two. Jase Bowen robbed Perdomo of a homer to end the eighth, then stole one from Tim Tawa to end the ninth. Those catches do not change the standings. They do change how the night feels when you are watching. A center fielder turning a sure extra-base ball into an out is still one of the best looks in the sport, and Bowen made two of them while his team was already buried.
The Padres had clinched a franchise-record third straight postseason berth on Thursday. Friday was about seeding. A win would have locked the No. 4 seed and home field in the wild-card round. Instead they got booed a few times in a park that had been celebrating twenty-four hours earlier, and Arizona left town still mathematically alive. Corbin Burnes went on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, which is bad news for a team lining up its wild-card rotation. Walker Buehler gets the ball Saturday for San Diego. Arizona was still sorting its options when the recaps hit.
Here is the simple math that survived Friday. Philadelphia is 87-73. Arizona is 86-74. Two games remain. San Diego is in and still sorting where it hosts. The Rays, already AL East champions with home field locked up for October, spent the night as spoilers and did the job cleanly. I am not going to narrate what any of that "means" beyond the schedule. The Phillies had three straight chances to punch the ticket and have not punched it. The Diamondbacks had one chance to keep breathing and took it by eleven runs in someone else's building.
I will watch both games Saturday the way you watch the last two chapters of a book you somehow have not spoiled for yourself. Philadelphia needs the clinch. Arizona needs help and another win. The last wild-card spot in the National League spent Friday refusing to behave. That is enough of a story for one night.
-Elle