Nootbaar Sets the Tone Early
Lars Nootbaar homered on the first pitch of the game Friday night, and Arizona never looked back, routing the San Diego Padres 11-4 to trim its NL wild-card deficit to a single game behind Philadelphia. Nolan Arenado added his 30th home run of the season, and Brandon Pfaadt turned in a strong outing on the mound to lock down the win.
Arizona now has two games left on the schedule and, crucially, holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Phillies if the two clubs finish tied. That detail matters as much as the standings themselves: a split down the stretch still sends the Diamondbacks to October.
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Philadelphia Loses Ground
While Arizona was piling up runs, Philadelphia went cold at the plate. The Phillies fell 2-0 to Tampa Bay, where Freddy Peralta allowed just four hits across 5 1/3 innings to shut down their offense. That combination, an Arizona blowout paired with a Philadelphia shutout loss, is exactly how a two-game gap becomes a one-game gap in the span of a single night.
Arizona trailed by two games as recently as Thursday. One night later, that gap is down to one, with two games left to play and the tiebreaker sitting in the Diamondbacks’ favor if they need it.
Elsewhere Around the League
The race for AL West stayed tight too. The Athletics beat the Houston Astros 6-5, but Houston still holds the tiebreaker over Texas atop the division. In Minnesota, Luke Keaschall went 4-for-5 to power a 10-2 win over the Rangers, while Cleveland rallied for five runs in the ninth inning, six of them driven in by walks, to beat Kansas City 12-9.
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