Ryne Nelson on his start during a Diamondbacks loss to the Phillies
Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Ryne Nelson discusses his latest start, which occured during a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 19.
The Diamondbacks came from behind to upend the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 on Tuesday, Sept. 23, their stunning comeback capped off by Geraldo Perdomo’s base hit to drive in Tim Tawa from second base with two outs.
The Diamondbacks trailed 4-0 in the seventh inning before Adrian Del Castillo’s two-run home run with two outs, making it 4-3. In the ninth, they put the first two runners on base before James McCann laid down a sacrifice bunt and Jorge Barrosa came through with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Players spilled out of the dugout and Diamondbacks fans jumped in jubilation as Tawa slid across home plate.
The Diamondbacks remained one game out of the third National League wild-card spot, tied with the Cincinnati Reds, who lost on Tuesday, and right behind the New York Mets, who came back to defeat the Chicago Cubs 9-7.
The Diamondbacks (80-77) took the first game of a crucial three-game series with the National League West Division leaders, with the postseason on the line.
Seemingly never lacking for drama, the Diamondbacks turned a four-run deficit into a one-run game with three runs off the struggling Dodgers bullpen.
McCann doubled in Ildemaro Vargas with two outs off reliever Jack Dreyer to make it 4-1.
Manager Torey Lovullo opted to remove pinch-hitter Jordan Lawlar and go with Del Castillo against reliever Edgardo Henriquez. Del Castillo launched a 1-1 cutter into the seats in right field for a two-run homer.
The Diamondbacks had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but Gabriel Moreno was thrown out at second base on a double-steal attempt, and the Dodgers’ Alex Vesia struck out Blaze Alexander on a 3-2 pitch.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers turned to Tanner Scott to close, but he hit Vargas with a pitch and walked Tawa. That set up heroics from Barrosa and Perdomo.
The Diamondbacks were unable to break through against Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani, who pitched six scoreless innings with five hits allowed and eight strikeouts. Ohtani is in line to pitch the postseason opener for the Dodgers in the NL wild-card series.
The Dodgers scored their first run on Teoscar Hernandez’s solo homer off Brandon Pfaadt in the top of the second inning. Pfaadt also allowed Hernandez’s triple, but gave up just four hits with two walks, striking out four.
The Dodgers’ Ben Rortvedt homered in the seventh to make it 4-0.
The crowd of 42,882 was the largest for a Monday through Wednesday home game this season.
—Nick Piecoro and José M. Romero
DBacks’ Lovullo has ideas on ABS debut
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said he wants to put “protocols” in place in terms of which of his players will be permitted to use the robot ump challenge system when it takes effect next season.
“From the small experience we had during spring training, the pitchers were a little bit more emotional and I think they were the ones that were missing those calls,” Lovullo said. “The catchers and the hitters were pretty tight on the zone. We’re going to definitely give it to the catchers.”
Baseball’s competition committee voted on Tuesday, Sept. 23, to implement an automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system for the 2026 season. Each team will get two challenges per game. Teams will retain their challenges when they are successful. The system is the same as the one tested during spring training earlier this year.
What Lovullo described sounded similar to what Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen admitted to doing during a game in the spring. Gallen said he told his catcher going into the game that he didn’t want to handle challenges; he wanted the catcher to call for them.
“And then there was one that I thought was egregious and I was right there tapping my head,” Gallen said, laughing.
Gallen wondered about the strategy teams might employ when determining when to risk using a challenge.
“I don’t think you’re going to see as many challenges as people think it’s going to be,” Gallen said. “I’m sure some teams have already done the math, like, when are the highest-leverage situations to use it? When does it make sense? Does it make sense to use it in the first inning with nobody on and two outs? If it’s 0-2? Or are you waiting until you get to the sixth inning? I don’t know. We’ll see.”
—Nick Piecoro
Coming up
Wednesday, Sept. 24: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (7-3, 3.34) vs. Dodgers LHP Blake Snell (5-4, 2.44).
Thursday, Sept. 25: At Chase Field, 12:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (13-14, 4.70) vs. Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (11-8, 2.58).
Friday, Sept. 26: At San Diego, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (9-8, 4.91 ) vs. Padres TBA.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)