MEXICO CITY — Whatever pressure there might have been in the moment, the Diamondbacks’ Tim Tawa tried to redirect it. The bases were loaded late in the game, and Tawa reminded himself of a simple truth: There might be pressure on me, but there’s even more on the pitcher.
It helped Tawa relax — and it helped him produce the biggest swing of the Diamondbacks’ wild, 12-7 comeback win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday, a victory that salvaged a split of their two-game series at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu.
Tawa lined a grand slam that just sneaked over the fence in left field, the key blow in the Diamondbacks’ six-run rally in the seventh inning. The Diamondbacks added four more runs an inning later. They finished with 11 unanswered en route to the win.
“In that at-bat, the pitcher has a lot of pressure right there,” Tawa said. “We were down five runs at that point. I wasn’t thinking hit a homer, I was thinking, ‘Let’s keep the line moving, let’s have a quality at-bat, let’s be on time for the heater.’ I was able to do that, and it just happened to go over the fence.”
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Arizona Diamondbacks' Nolan Arenado, left, celebrates with Tim Tawa after the match vs. the San Diego Padres in Mexico City on April 26.
It was a day filled with Diamondbacks’ positives. Ildemaro Vargas had three hits — a homer, a triple and a double — as he extended his hitting streak to 23 games dating to last season. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ripped the go-ahead, two-run double to cap the six-run rally in the seventh. Rookie Jose Fernandez homered and had three hits, both firsts for him since his big-league debut on March 31. Third baseman Nolan Arenado reached base three times and made a diving catch of a scorched Manny Machado liner for the final out of the game.
Trailing 7-1 when the bottom of the seventh began, the Diamondbacks pounded out 12 hits in their final two turns at-bat, and watched as their bullpen completed a day in which they gave up just one run over four innings.
“These guys continued to fight,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “That’s our DNA. That’s part of our culture is to never give in. It looked bleak, but we continued to fight and won a very important game.”
They took advantage of a gaffe by the Padres in the pivotal seventh inning. After Fernandez and Arenado opened the inning with singles, Alek Thomas hit a chopper up the middle. Second baseman Jake Cronenworth came up with the ball but banged into shortstop Xander Bogaerts, stopping his momentum just long enough for Arenado to slide safely into second.
Then came Tawa, who stepped to the plate just 5 for 39 (.128) to open the season. On the second pitch from reliever David Morgan, Tawa roped a low liner to left field. The ball left his bat at 100.1 mph and barely left the ballpark, sneaking over the fence. The distance on the home run: 363 feet.
“It hasn’t been a great start, but it really felt good to come through for the team right there,” Tawa said. “I was trying to put together a quality at-bat in that spot where I was trying to keep the line moving. It was a really cool moment for me.”
The Diamondbacks weren’t finished. Four batters later, Gurriel came to the plate with two men aboard and ripped a ball inside the third-base line and into the corner. The hit brought home both Vargas and Corbin Carroll, who flew around the bases to score from first, his helmet catapulting into the air as he slid home.
Arizona Diamondbacks' Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in action vs. San Diego in Mexico City on April 26.
The Diamondbacks poured it on in the eighth, getting a bases-clearing triple from Vargas and a run-scoring single from Ketel Marte to extend the lead.
Another important play, in retrospect, took place before the Diamondbacks’ rallies. The Padres had runners on first and second with nobody out in the top of the seventh when reliever Ryan Thompson executed an inside move to pick Fernando Tatis Jr. off second base. Two batters later, he was out of the inning.
Lovullo said the pickoff was called by bench coach Jeff Banister.
“That’s something we work on during spring training,” Lovullo said. “It’s a lot of tedious work and I know the players probably grow tired of it because we want to practice it until we execute it properly. When you see it play out the way it did, it’s one of those great moments where the players are probably saying, ‘Now I get it.’”
The win improved the Diamondbacks to 15-12. The road trip continues with the first of three games in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Adrian Del Castillo health update
Catcher Adrian Del Castillo departed the game on Sunday in the top of the third after a foul ball hit his glove hand and dislocated the tip of his left ring finger.
Del Castillo said he felt far better after the game — he said someone on the medical staff popped it back into place — and expects to be sore but able to play relatively soon.
“Foul ball kind of hit me perfectly on the finger,” Del Castillo said. “It dislocated it back a little bit. It feels fine, honestly, right now. I can move it a lot right now. At the time I couldn’t move it at all.”
Injury updates for Perdomo, Gallen
Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo was out of the starting lineup on Sunday but manager Torey Lovullo sounded confident that Perdomo would be able to avoid an injured list stint.
Meanwhile, right-hander Zac Gallen also is trending in a positive direction, with Lovullo saying the team feels better about his chances of making his next start than it did a day earlier, when he was struck in the right shoulder by a line drive.
Perdomo exited the same game with a left ankle sprain suffered while trying to field a ground ball.
“Good news on him today,” Lovullo said of Perdomo. “Minimal swelling. Discomfort is not the same this morning as it was last night.
“... I feel very strongly that we’re going to be able to avoid an IL stint with Geraldo.”
Gallen was relatively confident that he avoided a serious injury, saying after the game that the Freddy Fermin line drive struck him in a place where it was mostly a “muscle, tissue” situation.
“All the news is good on Zac,” Lovullo said. “He’s got range of motion. It’s just a contusion. We feel like he’s going to be available to make his next start. What happens between now and that time is still undecided. He still needs to get a little bit more comfort raising his right arm; it’s still a little stiff, like a typical charley horse.”
D-backs add infielder Jesus Valdez to roster
The Diamondbacks added infielder Jesus Valdez to the active roster for the second game of the Mexico City series, making him the 27th man for Sunday.
Valdez, 28, had been with the club’s Double-A Amarillo affiliate, where he had gone 3 for 15 (.200) in six games.
Technically, Valdez had his contract selected to the 40-man roster. He was then optioned to Amarillo but added to the big-league roster. He was expected to return to Amarillo after Sunday’s game.
The Diamondbacks had the option of adding a 27th player for both games. By rule, it had to be a position player, not a pitcher. They were planning to get through both games with 26 men because they did not have a healthy, optionable position player on their 40-man roster.
Perdomo’s injury changed things, and they likely added Valdez, rather than others, because they do not expect to keep him on the 40-man once a spot is needed.
The team has eight 40-man players on the 60-day injured list. None of them count against the 40-man limits, meaning once one of them is healthy, a current 40-man player will have to come off.
Coming up
– Tuesday: At Milwaukee, 4:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (1-1, 9.31) vs. Brewers RHP Chad Patrick (1-1, 2.35)
– Wednesday: At Milwaukee, 4:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (2-0, 2.89) vs. Brewers RHP Brandon Sproat (0-1, 6.45)
– Thursday: At Milwaukee, 10:40 a.m., Diamondbacks RHP Michael Soroka (4-0, 2.60) vs. Brewers RHP Brandon Woodruff (2-1, 3.77)
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