Diamondbacks 11-2 Padres (September 29, 2024) Game Recap

PHOENIX – Ketel Marte’s two-run home run capped a six-run fourth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks stayed alive in the National League wild-card race with an 11-2 win over the playoff-bound San Diego Padres in the regular-season finale on Sunday.

Arizona finished 89-73 and won’t know whether it reaches the postseason until a doubleheader on Monday between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, both of whom are 88-72. If either team wins, the Diamondbacks make the playoffs, but if the doubleheader is split, the Mets and Braves advance and Arizona is eliminated.

San Diego (93-69) won’t get to know its opponent in the Wild Card Series until Monday.

The Padres’ Luis Arraez doubled in the sixth inning, finished the game 1 for 3 and was on pace for his third straight batting title at .314. He would be the first since 1900 to win three batting titles with three different teams.

Brandon Pfaadt (11-10) allowed two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts for the Diamondbacks, who had lost five of six.

Ryne Nelson, who came off the injured list on Friday, pitched three innings for his first major league save, completing a four-hitter.

Elias Díaz’s RBI double in the second gave San Diego the lead.

Christian Walker’s brace started a series of five goals in a row against Martín Pérez (5-6) in the fourth period. Eugenio Suárez’s single drove in Walker and gave him 100 RBI for the season.

Jake McCarthy’s run-scoring single, Gabriel Moreno’s RBI double and Geraldo Perdomo’s run-scoring grounder made it a 4-1 lead, and Marte hit his 36th home run, a drive to left field in the second deck.

Pérez gave up six runs and eight hits in 3 2;3 innings.

Suárez hit his 30th home run off Matt Waldron to center field to lead off the sixth, and Randal Grichuk hit his 12th home run with a man aboard in the eighth, also off Waldron.

Arizona finished with five more wins than last year, when they earned the final wild card and reached the World Series, where they lost to Texas.

Elias Diaz and Jake Cronenworth drove in the runs for the Padres, who won 11 more games than last year and finished with the second-highest point total behind the 1998 NL pennant winners at 98.

A viewership of 38,892 gave Arizona a season viewership of 2,341,876, the Diamondbacks’ highest total since 2008, when they drew 2,509,924.

NEXT

Padres: Host a wild-card series starting Tuesday.

Diamondbacks: Wait for the results of Monday’s makeup doubleheader between the Mets and Braves.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb