Corbin Carroll and Kevin Newman scored on back-to-back wild pitches in the seventh inning, and the Arizona Diamondbacks came from behind to beat the Colorado Rockies 5-4 on Monday night, securing their fourth consecutive win.
The Diamondbacks have been on a strong run, with an 18-5 record since the All-Star break.
“They jumped out to a lead on us, but we didn’t blink,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “At the right times, our attentiveness, our focus and our readiness showed up. It all piled up into a couple really good plays, a couple really good at-bats.”
Joc Pederson came up to bat in the seventh inning with Arizona trailing 4-3, two outs, and runners on first and third. He didn’t need to hit the ball to put his team ahead. Tyler Kinley threw a wild pitch that allowed Carroll to score easily, and Newman advanced to third after stealing second base.
A few pitches later, Kinley threw another wild pitch that catcher Elias Díaz couldn’t handle. Newman took the chance to dash home and scored without a throw.
One of the Diamondbacks’ strengths last season during their World Series run was their baserunning, with the team’s slogan “Embrace the Chaos” highlighting their smart decisions on the bases. While this quality was missing at the start of the season, it has returned in recent weeks.
“We have an energy that we can feel, playing off each other,” Newman said. “I think those opportunities are coming more and more, because of how tough we are one through nine. There’s been good opportunities to steal bases, go first to third, score from second, score from first and be who we are.”
Both of Kinley’s wild pitches were on sliders.
“Trying to execute a really nasty pitch a couple times when you’re ahead in the count against a really good batter,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “It came back to bite us.”
Jake McCarthy added two hits and two RBIs, while Newman and Josh Bell each had two hits. Justin Martinez earned his third save by working around a leadoff single in the ninth inning.
Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt (7-6) matched his career-high with 11 strikeouts over seven innings. He allowed four runs and eight hits.
