The Diamondbacks’ Blaze Alexander leaped at the fence, came down with the baseball and threw up his arms. He then motioned with his fingers what he wanted the crowd to do — bring it.

“I was just in the moment,” Alexander said, recalling his home run-robbing catch in the eighth inning of the Diamondbacks’ 5-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night, Sept. 6.

“In the moment and first thing that comes to mind was to throw up my hands. Let’s go. I wanted to hear it.”

In winning their fourth in a row, the Diamondbacks moved over the .500 mark for the first time since July 1. They also moved within 4 1/2 games of the New York Mets for the final wild-card spot with 19 games to play.

For the second time in as many nights, Alexander authored the signature moment in a Diamondbacks win. The night before, he unleashed a 95 mph rocket from center field to cut down a runner at the plate. This time, playing left field for just the second time in his life, he took a home run away from Alex Bregman.

But the Alexander highlight reel has not been limited to the past two days. The Diamondbacks have been among the better teams in baseball since the trade deadline, which just so happens to be when Alexander assumed an everyday role in the lineup.

Those two things just might be related, manager Torey Lovullo said.

“I think so,” Lovullo said. “He’s definitely a catalyst. You can feel the energy that he creates.”

That was evident after Alexander threw up his hands and beckoned the Chase Field crowd to celebrate his catch.

“It’s an exciting brand of baseball that we’re playing,” Lovullo said.

The Diamondbacks have won 21 of 34 games since Aug. 1, the third-best record in the majors behind the Milwaukee Brewers (24-11) and Philadelphia Phillies (22-12). They have been getting production throughout their lineup. Their rotation, one through five, has become more reliable. Even their bullpen, with contributions from a hodgepodge of minor-league free agents and unheralded prospects, has managed to hold down more leads than not.

But the improvement on defense might be the club’s most notable shift. And Alexander has been a big part of that — both at third base, where he began August in place of Eugenio Suarez, and in the outfield, where he began playing over the past six days.

“I think he’s just such a natural athlete,” reliever Jalen Beeks said. “I think he can go kind of do whatever he wants on the field. He’s probably good at every sport that he plays. He’s just one of those guys. Very thankful he’s on our team.”

Less than two weeks ago, the Diamondbacks dropped a second consecutive game in Milwaukee to fall 7 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. The wild-card felt like a pipedream. But in the days since, the New York Mets have continued to stumble while the San Diego Padres have begun to do the same.

The projection systems still do not like their chances — FanGraphs gives them a 2.7 percent chance of a wild-card spot, up from 0.4 percent five days ago — but it at least feels like they have momentum on their side.

Beeks was asked whether the playoff chase is starting to feel more real.

“I think it has been real for us the whole time,” he said. “I know we (were pretty far back) at one point … but we were always like, ‘Man, look around, we’ve got a lot of good players in here.’ We’ve beat a lot of good teams every week. We’ve just needed to get on a roll. We need to get hot and see what happens.

“We haven’t had that streak this year. So, hopeful, and I think it’s about to happen.”

—Nick Piecoro

Torey Lovullo sticking to a plan for Jordan Lawlar

Diamondbacks rookie Jordan Lawlar has turned in back-to-back productive games at the plate, and manager Torey Lovullo is hoping to allow him to continue to gain confidence by limiting him to starts against left-handed pitchers — at least for now.

“Just giving him an opportunity to see some pitches that are coming in to him rather than going away from him can limit the chase and get him back into that pocket where he can have some success,” Lovullo said.

Lawlar had two hits on Tuesday night, Sept. 2 — his first two hits of the year — and after sitting on Sept. 3 and getting the team off day on Sept. 4, he followed that up with another good night at the plate on Friday, Sept. 5, going 1 for 3 with a double and a sacrifice fly.

Lawlar started this season 0 for 31. He also struggled late in the 2023 season in his only other stint in the majors. As such, Lovullo wants Lawlar to taste more success before giving him tougher matchups against righties.

“I think that’s probably more his specialty, you know, attacking quality left-handed pitching at this point in time, in my eyes,” Lovullo said. “But I still think he’s as good a hitter as we have inside of our player development system. So getting him some right-on-right at-bats is definitely going to be a priority for me. Where that happens, I don’t know.”

Throughout his time as manager, Lovullo has tended to proceed with caution with young players, either by finding favorable matchups for them or by hitting them further down in the batting order as a way of easing pressure.

—Nick Piecoro

Coming up

Sunday, Sept. 7: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (7-3, 3.57) vs. Red Sox RHP Brayan Bello (11-6, 3.07).

Monday, Sept. 8: At San Francisco, 6:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Nabil Crismatt (2-0, 2.14) vs. Giants RHP Logan Webb (13-9, 3.17).

Tuesday, Sept. 9: At San Francisco, 6:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (11-13, 4.77) vs. Giants LHP Robbie Ray (10-6, 3.31).

(This story has been updated to add new information.)