Arizona Diamondbacks blast Giants as playoff chase continues

The message was clear from Diamondbacks coaches before the game: Apply as much pressure as possible to the San Francisco Giants, manager Torey Lovullo recalled. But when the ball trickled away from Giants third baseman Wilmer Flores in the second inning on Tuesday night, the Diamondbacks’ Corbin Carroll had what, in his mind, was a binary choice.

“It’s pretty simply just a yes/no decision,” Carroll said.

Carroll went with the former, a decision that fueled the pivotal sequence in the Diamondbacks’ 8-4 win over the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field.

The win was the latest massive victory for a Diamondbacks team that is pushing for a playoff spot. It was their fourth consecutive win — all of them coming against fellow wild-card contenders — and it comes ahead of another potentially crucial game on Wednesday afternoon. Not only will the Diamondbacks have a chance to deliver an ostensible knockout blow to a reeling Giants team, but a win will determine who owns a tiebreaker in the event the teams have identical records come Oct. 1.

As it stands, the Diamondbacks are well-positioned to make the playoffs — FanGraphs pegs their odds at 66.1% — though as the past couple weeks have shown, that sort of thing can change quickly.

In improving to 80-72, the Diamondbacks managed keep pace with the Chicago Cubs (79-72) and Miami Marlins (79-73), both of whom also won, while gaining a game on the Cincinnati Reds (79-74), who lost. The Diamondbacks are a half-game up on the Cubs for the second wild-card spot and a full game ahead of the Marlins, who are on the outside looking in at the playoff picture.

Ketel Marte had four hits and a walk; Carroll delivered a pair of important hits in the first two innings; and the Diamondbacks’ bullpen had yet another dominant night, picking up the slack after a lackluster start from Zac Gallen.

Carroll was on second base, Ketel first, when both took off on a double steal with two out in the second inning. Giants catcher Patrick Bailey threw a strike to third and looked to have Carroll dead to rights, but third baseman Wilmer Flores dropped the throw, then there would be two errors on the play.

That was when Carroll had a decision to make.

“I saw it a little late, but just looked up, looked where Wilmer was, looked where the ball was,” Carroll said. “It was a ‘yes’ decision in my mind.”

Flores retrieved it but made matters worse, throwing errantly to home to allow not only Carroll but Marte to score, as well. Just like that, a one-run game became a 5-2 lead for the Diamondbacks. They never looked back.

Lovullo acknowledged a good throw might have had Carroll at either third or home, but he said he stood behind the aggressive decision-making, which made sense given that it came against a Giants team that is notorious for being defensively challenged.

“It was like, ‘No, no, no, no, yes, yes, no, yes,’ — that type of a response,” Lovullo said, smiling. “But I promise you, I would have bottom-lined it — I would have defended it — had he been out at third base or out at home plate. We talked about forcing their team to play as fast as they possibly can defensively in our pregame.”

Lovullo said he blinked and the Diamondbacks had scored two runs. Carroll saw it a little differently.

NL Wild Card standings, odds, schedule: DBacks, Cubs, Reds, Marlins, Giants in close race

“It was a little slower for me," he said, "because I was like, ‘Oh, God, I better make it.’ Once that ball got away and Ketel scored, too, I was fired up. That felt good, after not being able to make a play for Gallen in the first inning.”

Carroll was referring to his misplay on a first-inning line drive that allowed LaMonte Wade Jr. to open the game with a triple, a mistake that led to the Giants first run. Carroll, who thought he could have caught the ball had he been more aggressive, said it was “pretty much all I was thinking about all game.”

“It was kind of a top-spinner, a line drive, (and I ended up) getting caught in between,” Carroll said. “I had that on a couple balls now. I want to get that ironed out.”

The performance by the offense helped deflect attention off another shaky outing from Gallen, who has struggled in four of his past five starts, the lone exception being the three-hit shutout he threw at Wrigley Field on Sept. 8.

Even with the shutout, Gallen owns a 6.37 ERA over those five starts. It is a potentially troubling development given the proximity of the postseason for a Diamondbacks team that figures to lean heavily on him should it advance to October.

“I just didn’t really feel — it’s been the last handful of times — I haven’t really felt great, just haven’t been able to repeat it,” Gallen said. “I’m looking. I’m working every day to try to figure out what the deal is.”

On the other hand, the bullpen had another terrific night, firing four scoreless innings. Diamondbacks relievers have not allowed an earned run while working 18 2/3 innings over the past three games.

—Nick Piecoro

NL Wild Card standings, odds, schedule: DBacks, Cubs, Reds, Marlins, Giants in close race

White Sox to hire DBacks’ Josh Barfield for high-ranking role

Arizona Diamondbacks farm director Josh Barfield has accepted a position as an assistant general manager with the Chicago White Sox, a source confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

Barfield has been with the Diamondbacks since 2015, moving from scouting to player development. He became the top assistant in player development in 2018, then took over the top job two years later.

Barfield will work under new White Sox General Manager Chris Getz.

Barfield’s departure was first reported by MLB.com.

The Diamondbacks do not yet have plans in place to replace Barfield.

—Nick Piecoro

Diamondbacks' first round pick Tommy Troy undergoes procedure on foot

Shortstop Tommy Troy, the Diamondbacks’ first-round pick in this year’s draft and one of their top prospects, was wearing a boot on his left foot Tuesday when he met with reporters in the dugout at Chase Field.

Troy said he fractured the foot on a hit by pitch in March and made the injury a few weeks later when he rolled over the same foot. After playing on it all season, Troy got an operation last week. He is set to get his stitches removed in two weeks and expects to be back shortly after that to go through a full off-season of training.

“It was definitely bugging me a bit but still grinded through it, found ways to deal with it and find a way to win,” Troy said. “That's what you gotta do.”

Playing through the injury at Stanford, Troy hit .394/.478/.699. After being selected No. 12 overall, he hit .271/.374/.469 in 27 games between the Arizona Complex League and High-A.

“It was everything I thought it was gonna be,” Troy said of his first taste of professional baseball. “It was just super fun. This is your job, this is what I get to do for a living. Everything I ever wanted.”

—Theo Mackie

Tuesday's Diamondbacks-Giants pitching matchup

Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (15-8, 3.50) vs. Giants RHP Alex Cobb (7-6, 3.62).

Gallen was hit hard by the Mets in his most recent start, giving up seven runs (six earned) in five-plus innings in an outing at Citi Field last week. … Prior to that, he turned in perhaps the best start of his career, a three-hit shutout of the Cubs at Wrigley Field. … He has pitched pretty well against the Giants both times he has faced them, giving up a combined five runs in 13 2/3 innings. … Cobb gave up a pair of unearned runs in five innings against Cleveland in his most recent start. … He has faced the Diamondbacks twice this year, allowing three runs in 13 1/3 innings with three walks and seven strikeouts. … His curveball has been his best put-away pitch. He has induced whiffs on 31.4 percent of swings.

Coming up

Wednesday: At Chase Field, 12:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (11-7, 3.45) vs. Giants RHP Logan Webb (10-12, 3.31.

Thursday: Off.

Friday: At New York, 4:05 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (2-8, 5.86) vs. Yankees LHP Carlos Rodon (3-6, 5.90).

Saturday: At New York, 10:05 a.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zach Davies (2-5, 6.81) vs. Yankees TBA.

More DBacks: For Diamondbacks and Torey Lovullo, no room for error with starting rotation

What to know about the San Francisco Giants

Like the rest of the teams in the mix for the final wild-card spots, the Giants seem to alternate between looking like a viable contender and looking as if they have no business in the race. They looked like the latter over the weekend when they dropped three out of four to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, winning on Sunday to avoid a sweep — and only barely as they almost blew an 11-5 lead. They are 6-5 against the Diamondbacks this season. If they win one of these two games they will earn the tiebreaker against them. (The Diamondbacks already have lost the tiebreaker to Cincinnati and Miami, though they have it over the Cubs.) OF Mitch Haniger had a good day at the plate on Sunday, though he has not had good results since returning from injury in late August. Similarly, OF Michael Conforto came off the injured list last week and had a quiet series vs. the Rockies. Both teams are starting their top two starters in this series. Both teams also were off on Monday.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Diamondbacks pick up key win against San Francisco Giants