Written by Jorge L. Ortiz at USA Today.com
Breaking down the National League wild card game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies at Chase Field:
Diamondbacks 11, Rockies 8: The Diamondbacks advance to the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Game 1 is Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
The game: Paul Goldschmidt’s three-run homer off Jon Gray set the tone, putting the Diamondbacks ahead 3-0 a mere eight pitches into the bottom of the first, but they needed plenty more help to fend off the hard-charging Rockies.
That included the first relief appearance since 2014 by left-hander Robbie Ray, who went 15-5 in 28 starts during the season. Ray took over in the fourth and gave up a run in 2 1/3 innings, throwing 34 pitches and getting credit for the win.
But his was hardly the most memorable performance by a pitcher in the game. That honor belongs to reliever Archie Bradley, and it was as a hitter. Bradley’s two-run triple in the seventh – on his fifth plate appearance of the season – put Arizona ahead 8-5.
Of course, then he would serve up two home runs in the eighth to allow the Rockies to narrow the gap in the wild and entertaining game. A.J. Pollock finally salted it away for the Diamondbacks with their fourth triple of the game, a two-run drive to right-center off Greg Holland to extend the lead to 10-7. Jeff Mathis followed with an RBI bunt single to cap the three-run eighth
Arizona leadoff man David Peralta and second-place hitter Ketel Marte combined for six hits, with Marte becoming the first player to hit two triples in a postseason game since the Philadelphia Phillies’ Mariano Duncan in 1993.
Daniel Descalso’s two-run homer off Tyler Anderson in the third inning stretched the Diamondbacks’ lead to 6-0 and the rout was on, or so it seemed.
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