Randal Grichuk homers twice as Diamondbacks hold off Giants 8-7
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo drive in the fifth to move within one of 300 for his career, and the Arizona Diamondbacks held off the San Francisco Giants 8-7 on Tuesday night for their seventh straight road win.
Grichuk had his 12th career multi-homer game and first in nearly two years since connecting twice for Colorado on Sept. 6, 2022, against Milwaukee. His powerful bat helped Ryne Nelson (10-6) reach double-digit victories for the first time in his career in just the second win in six games overall for Arizona, which holds the second NL wild card spot.
Matt Chapman homered in the sixth and Mike Yastrzemski connected to spark a four-run eighth for the Giants on a night they drew a season-low crowd of 23,545 and lost their third straight and fifth in six. San Francisco threatened against Ryan Thompson, who gave up RBI singles to Jerar Encarnacion and Patrick Bailey.
Justin Martinez relieved and surrendered a run-scoring single to Marco Luciano, freshly up from the minors, before retiring Luis Matos on a called third strike. Martinez allowed Yastrzemski's leadoff single in the ninth then a one-out RBI double to Heliot Ramos before striking out Encarnacion to close it out for his eighth save — with the tying and go-ahead runs aboard.
Christian Walker provided a key insurance run on an RBI single in the ninth. He returned from the injured list after he missed more than a month with a strained left oblique muscle and went 1 for 5 in the cleanup spot.
Arizona loaded the bases with two outs in the third against rookie lefty Kyle Harrison (7-7), who was replaced following Adrian Del Castillo's single. Tristan Beck entered and immediately surrendered Kevin Newman's two-run single.
Josh Bell added an RBI groundout in the initial inning then Geraldo Perdomo made it 4-1 when he singled in a run in the second.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Diamondbacks: Walker played for the first time since July 29 against Washington. ... OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went on the 10-day IL with a strained left calf, though manager Torey Lovullo expects him to return when eligible. Gurriel was hurt trying to beat out a double play Sunday against the Dodgers. ... INF Ketel Marte tested his sprained left ankle with some aggressive baserunning while C Gabriel Moreno (strained adductor in his left leg) still needs some recovery time. ... LHP Jordan Montgomery is listed as day-to-day after he took a comebacker off the lower right leg Monday and exited in the seventh inning.
Giants: Michael Conforto was scratched from the designated hitter spot. He had some discomfort in his left side Sunday then San Francisco had a day off Monday. Conforto still felt something when went in the cage to swing Tuesday and the team decided to be cautious. Manager Bob Melvin expects him to play Wednesday.
ROSTER MOVES
The Giants recalled Luciano and OF Luis Matos from Triple-A Sacramento. C/OF Blake Sabol and INF Casey Schmitt were optioned to Sacramento.
UP NEXT
RHP Zac Gallen (10-6, 3.87 ERA), 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA and 29 strikeouts over his last four outings at Oracle Park, pitches the middle game of the series for Arizona opposite RHP Hayden Birdsong (3-4, 5.14).
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