D-backs Stun Dodgers with 5-4 Walk-Off to Keep Playoff Hopes Alive

The Arizona Diamondbacks completed their greatest miracle of the 2025 season to date. They trailed 4-0 entering the bottom of the 7th inning after getting shut down by likely MVP Shohei Ohtani for six innings. But the team found a way to keep their season alive, walking off the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 at Chase Field.

"It was a great moment for this team, for what they have been fighting for," said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo on the D-backsTV postgame coverage. "These guys go out and link up to one another and fight as hard as any team I've ever managed."

A loss would have added another game to the gap, all but killing their postseason hopes. Instead, they pulled off another miraculous win in a second half full of them. With five games to go, they need to outplay both the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets by just one game to make the postseason.

It started with a quality start from right-hander Brandon Pfaadt. He had the enviable task of trying to hold down one of the best lineups in baseball and keep his team in the game. He accomplished that, holding the Dodgers to just three runs in six innings. The only two mistakes came against Teoscar Hernandez, who homered, tripled, and drove in all three runs against Pfaadt.

The issue, though, was that Ohtani was virtually untouchable on the mound. He struck out eight and held the D-backs to five hits over six innings. Their only scoring chance against him came in the sixth. Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll singled to bring the tying run to the plate. Gabriel Moreno couldn't capitalize, lining out to center for the frame's final out.

"They were going up against probably some of the best stuff we've seen all year in Ohtani. He was locked in, and we knew it was going to be a tough battle for us. We were trying to scratch across any type of momentum he could, and he never let it happen."

A 3-0 deficit was going to be tough to overcome. It got even larger when John Curtiss surrendered a home run to Ben Rortvedt in the 7th. It seemed like, at that point, the magic keeping the D-backs' season alive had run out.

But the little team that could continued to fight. Their win expectancy on the night was just 7.1% entering the bottom of the seventh. However, they also faced a Dodgers bullpen that has struggled all season.

Ildemaro Vargas and James McCann started the comeback bid. McCann crushed a drive off the center field wall with two outs that drove home Vargas and put Arizona on the board. In a series of back-and-forth moves, Lovullo got the matchup of the left-handed swinging Adrian Del Castillo on right-hander Edgardo Henriquez. It cost them Jordan Lawlar, who originally was set to back against the left-hander Jack Dreyer.

"I know Henriquez doesn't match up well against lefties. I felt like I was walking down that road. As it was unfolding and the moves were being made, that's ultimately the move I thought we'd get to, and that's the one I wanted."

Entering that at-bat, Henriquez was yielding a .211/.250/.474 slash to left-handed hitters. After Del Castillo missed badly on a cutter in a 1-0 count, he crushed one that stayed over the inside edge of the plate and cut the deficit to one.

"Del handles fastball, cuts, anything close to him very well. It worked out the way it's supposed to."

That swing not only got Arizona back into the game, but it put pressure on the Dodgers for the first time all night. The D-backs are certainly no strangers to bullpen meltdowns this season, so it was nice to be on the other side of one.

They had another chance to break even in the eighth. Walks to Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno put the tying and go-ahead run on base. It appeared that Carroll would steal third, but Moreno got a poor jump off first and was subsequently tagged out after oversliding second. Instead of being one swing away from taking the lead, they came up empty after Blaze Alexander struck out.

What could have been the straw that broke the camel's back ended up being an entire footnote for the game. They faced Tanner Scott, the face of the Dodgers' bullpen problems all season, with 21 shutdowns and 13 meltdowns on the season. For a closer being paid $16 million in 2025, that's certainly below expectations.

Arizona had been responsible for two of his nine blown saves, scoring five runs in those two games. While the Dodgers ultimately came back to win both games, it certainly created the confidence the team needed to face him a third time with the game on the line.

A two-strike hit-by-pitch and a walk to a hitter trying to give himself up put the tying and winning runs on base. A perfect bunt by McCann put both in scoring position for Jorge Barrosa. Down to a 0-2 count, the rookie delivered with a deep fly ball to left to tie the game.

With good speed on second in Tim Tawa, the D-backs needed one more swing of the bat to win this game. Of course, that swing of the bat came from the most cold-blooded of Diamondbacks, Geraldo Perdomo.

Thanks to Perdomo's heroics, the D-backs turned a game they had a 5.1% win expectancy into a win. It also served as a signature moment for one of baseball's most valuable players and should help his MVP candidacy. While the league's likely MVP started this game, the player who should be the runner-up ended it.

"I think we are all watching somebody emerge and turn into a very good player. I threw him into the elite category because Wins Above Replacement, the WAR, I look up there every day and he's got a 6.8-6.9 WAR. Those are among the five best players in baseball, so I'm putting him into that category."

The D-backs will have a chance to win their first season series against the Dodgers since 2018 on Wednesday. They'll send right-hander Ryne Nelson (7-3, 3.44 ERA) to the mound while the Dodgers will go with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell (5-4, 2.44 ERA). First pitch at Chase Field will be at 6:40 P.M. MST.

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