PHOENIX—Pinch-hitter Pavin Smith connected for a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday night to lift the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4–2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Jake McCarthy got the winning rally started with a looping, one-out double down the left-field line. Smith—hitting for Eugenio Suárez—smashed a pitch from Randy Rodríguez (1–1) that barely cleared the yellow line above the wall in center field.
“It’s pretty crazy, the stuff you sort of dream about,” Smith said. “You play it in your mind almost every day.”
The Diamondbacks have won three straight games, while the Giants have dropped a season-high five in a row after having won 10 of their previous 12.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. gave the D-backs a 1–0 lead with a homer off Spencer Howard in the second inning. It marked the 100th career longball for Gurriel Jr. Blaze Alexander’s RBI single up the middle later in the inning scored Suárez—who had tripled off the wall in right-center—for a 2–0 advantage.
San Francisco’s Matt Chapman hit a double in the fourth that drove in Brett Wisely, cutting it to 2–1. Rookie Heliot Ramos tied it at 2–2 in the seventh with a solo shot to the deepest part of the park in right-center.
The Giants threatened in the ninth, putting runners on first and third with two outs. Jorge Soler hit a bouncing ball down the third base line to Suárez, who fired high to first, but Christian Walker was able to leap into the air and grab the throw before tagging Soler just before he crossed the base.
Soler was originally called safe, and San Francisco appeared to have a 3–2 lead, but a video review overturned the decision.
“It’s a game of inches, right?” Giants Manager Bob Melvin said.
The stellar defensive play by Walker set the stage for Smith, who hit just his second homer of the season and his first career walk-off.
Diamondbacks right-hander Ryne Nelson gave up two runs over 7 2/3 innings, the longest outing of his career. He yielded six hits and struck out one.
Nelson entered the game with a 6.02 earned-run average but coaxed lots of early contact from the Giants, needing just 80 pitches to navigate through his outing.
“The fastball command and the slider really showed up tonight,” Nelson said. “And the defense was incredible.”
On top of Walker’s clutch tag at first in the ninth, McCarthy and Gurriel both made diving catches in the outfield. Alexander also made a diving stop at shortstop in the fourth and fired to first to retire Patrick Bailey.
“That’s how we do it here,” Diamondbacks Manager Torey Lovullo said. “We walk on the field, and we’re prepared to make plays.”
Ryan Thompson (3–2) earned the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
