PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks have had their share of strife over the past 10 days, dealing with another pitching injury and the fallout of having one of their best players ghost the team during a playoff race.
Rookie Ryan Waldschmidt changed the mood in a hurry on Tuesday night.
The 23-year-old entered the game as a pinch hitter with two outs in the ninth and smashed a two-run, game-winning homer to stun the Chicago Cubs 5-4. It was the team's
40th comeback win of the season, which leads the big leagues.
The D-backs trailed 4-0 after seven innings on Tuesday before scoring three runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth.
“I think they have the mentality that they're just a bunch of dogs and they're not going to stop,” manager Torey Lovullo said. "They're going to keep getting after it every single day and that's just ingrained in them. They have a great makeup.
“This group is pretty darn special. I legitimately think this group loves each other.”
The D-backs (70-63) moved one game behind the San Diego Padres for the final National League wild-card spot with the win. The Padres fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 earlier Tuesday.
It was Waldschmidt's second walk-off homer of the season. His first came less than three weeks ago against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“It's pretty cool, but it says a lot about the team, not just me,” Waldschmidt said. “I just am the one who has gotten the opportunity to do it in these moments. I just think it says a lot about all of us. We're pretty resilient, we're never out of game.”
It was a galvanizing moment for a franchise that's had some rough moments over the past few weeks. Three-time All-Star Ketel Marte left the team in a lurch last week because of his mysterious absence before a game in Boston that provided days of headlines.
The team put Marte on the restricted list, eventually transferred the second baseman to the injured list, and hope he'll return for the team's series against the Philadelphia Phillies that starts Aug. 31.
Also, one of the team's best pitchers, right-hander Michael Soroka, went back on the injured list with a sore arm.
But the D-backs keep hanging around the wild-card race, and the team's grit is giving vibes of 2023, when the team barely qualified for the playoffs with a 84-78 record before making a run all the way to the World Series.
“We're going to go out there and fight,” Lovullo said.
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