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The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Texas Rangers 6-4 on Thursday thanks to a wild ninth inning. They were down 4-2 heading into the top of the ninth, which was slashed to a one-run deficit by a James McCann homer. Phil Maton continued to struggle, hitting Blaze Alexander and walking Geraldo Perdomo. That's when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte hit a three-run homer, a scene Rangers' pitcher Merrill Kelly is very familiar with.
“What you saw today is him in a nutshell. He hits good pitches, he hits bad pitches,” Kelly said. Kelly was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Rangers at the trade deadline. “He can work the count, he could work the AB and punch a single into left or hurt you with a big-time homer from either side of the plate. Obviously, he proved that the last two nights. He’s kind of the guy that you circle in that lineup that you don’t want to beat you. … Unfortunately, we let him beat us the last two days.”
Marte also cracked a ninth-inning homer on Tuesday to win that game 3-2. The Diamondbacks traded a lot of pieces away at the deadline, including Kelly, but Marte is keeping them in the race. They are 5.5 games back of the New York Mets for the final Wild Card spot in the National League.
Marte has a long-term contract with the Diamondbacks and will be a core piece of their next competitive team. That could be as early as next year if they have a great offseason, as Marte's peak has him as one of the top second basemen in the league. Despite a disappointing season for the team, Marte has a .956 OPS with 23 homers this season.
The Diamondbacks took the series against the Texas Rangers. They start a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.
