Diamondbacks Hold Off Tigers in Series Finale Victory

Left-hander Jordan Montgomery looked great in the early going, but the Tigers kept chipping away. With the Diamondbacks nursing a 4-1 lead after four innings, Detroit scored a run in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to tie the game. Montgomery finished with four runs allowed in six-plus, on five hits, two walks, and three strikeouts.

“Monty was great, a couple scratch runs here and there,” said Lovullo. “The Tigers are a good team, I would not be surprised if they make a lot of noise inside the AL Central. They’re finding their way, they are very gritty. They do a really good job with two outs, you can’t put them away, you can’t finish them off. That showed up a lot today, where they just had that type of hit that got them back in the game.”

After walking the first batter to start the seventh, Lovullo turned to Ryan Thompson to pitch him out of the inning. Thompson retired the first two hitters he faced before giving up a game-tying triple to pinch hitter Kerry Carpenter. It nearly turned into an inside-the-park home run, but the relay from Pavin Smith and Kevin Newman got to home plate in the nick of time to nab Carpenter. That turned into a huge play, as the Diamondbacks answered in the bottom half of the inning.

“Corbin’s going back, he’s not sure if the ball is going to hit the wall,” said Lovullo. “The two outfielders converged on that. I’m not sure who picked up the ball, but whoever that was threw a strike to Newman, who threw a strike to Tucker [Barnhart]. I loved that play, the entire team is engaged. Everybody has some responsibilities, everybody’s rotating, you got to think fast. It’s a team concept I enjoy watching. When it’s done right, it’s very powerful.”

Randal Grichuk, who came off the bench for Pederson, and Christian Walker opened up the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back singles. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. advanced both of them into scoring position with a soft ground ball to third base, setting the stage for the go-ahead runs to score Pavin Smith hit a chopper up the middle, with Javier Báez making a play and throwing home, but the throw got away from catcher Jake Rogers for Grichuk to slide in safely. Blaze Alexander drove in the second run with a groundout to the right side that Spencer Torkelson had to make a diving stop on.

Armed with the lead, Thompson once again went out to protect another lead. It was a shaky inning for the otherwise reliable right-hander, but he struck out Matt Vierling and Gio Urshela with the tying runs in scoring position. That proved to be the critical moment in the ballgame that sealed the win for the Diamondbacks. Paul Sewald retired all three hitters in the ninth to record his third save in as many chances.

Marte collected two more hits to extend his hitting streak to 18 games.

The Diamondbacks will travel to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers for a three-game series. Right-hander Slade Cecconi (1-3, 5.27 ERA) will take the mound for Arizona, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto (4-1, 3.21 ERA) will pitch for Los Angeles. First pitch at Dodger Stadium will be at 7:10 PM MST.