Ketel Marte’s two-run homer finished off a six-run fourth inning, helping the Arizona Diamondbacks stay in the National League wild-card race with an 11-2 victory over the playoff-bound San Diego Padres on Sunday in their last regular-season game.
Arizona ended the season with a record of 89-73 and won’t know if they make the playoffs until a doubleheader on Monday between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, who both have records of 88-72.
If either the Mets or Braves sweep the doubleheader, the Diamondbacks will reach the playoffs. However, if they split the games, both the Mets and Braves will advance, and Arizona will be out.
“It’s weird. We don’t even know who to root for,” said Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll. “You just wait to see who wins the first game and root for them in the second. We’ll work out here and be ready to go.”
Arizona is left waiting to find out if they will travel to Milwaukee for a best-of-three Division Series against the Brewers.
“It sucks,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. “But there’s nothing we can do about it. We made this bed. We got to sleep in it, but we’re going to hope for the best. They’re two great franchises, two great managers, and I don’t think either have the gene of laying down.”
Lovullo understands how difficult it is to sweep a doubleheader. “It’s always a challenge,” he said. “It’s going to be a battle of will, and the fatigue factor, but they’re both going to be hungry.”
San Diego (93-69) will find out on Monday whether their Wild Card Series opponent will be the Mets or Braves.
Luis Arraez of the Padres hit a double in the sixth inning, finishing 1 for 3 and bringing his batting average to .314, putting him close to winning his third consecutive batting title. He’s the first player since 1900 to win three batting titles with three different teams.
Brandon Pfaadt (11-10) gave up two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out nine for the Diamondbacks, who had lost five of their last six games.
“We used a little bit of everything,” Pfaadt said about his pitch selection. “When they put up a 6-spot in the fourth that kind of helps the pitching side.”
Ryne Nelson, who was activated from the injured list on Friday, pitched three innings for his first big league save, finishing with a four-hitter.
Christian Walker’s double started a streak of five consecutive hits in the fourth inning off Martín Pérez (5-6). Eugenio Suárez’s single brought in Walker and marked his 100th RBI of the season.
Jake McCarthy’s run-scoring single, Gabriel Moreno’s RBI double, and Geraldo Perdomo’s grounder added to a 4-1 lead, and Marte hit his 36th homer, a shot into the left-field second deck.
Pérez allowed six runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. Suárez hit his 30th homer off Matt Waldron, sending it to dead center field to lead off the sixth inning, while Randal Grichuk connected for his 12th with a man on base in the eighth, also off Waldron.
Suárez hit 20 home runs after the All-Star break. Only Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge hit more.
“After I have that first half, I wasn’t that good, and then to be able to have 30 homers, it’s awesome,” he said.
Arizona finished the season with five more wins than last year, when the Diamondbacks made it to the World Series as the last wild card but lost to Texas.
Elias Diaz and Jake Cronenworth drove in runs for the Padres, who also had an improved season with 11 more wins than last year, finishing with their second-highest total ever, behind 98 from the 1998 NL pennant winners.
A crowd of 38,892 brought Arizona’s season attendance to 2,341,876, the highest total for the Diamondbacks since 2008, when they drew 2,509,924 fans.
