Kelly times 2! HRs in 9th, 11th lift D-backs in LA

LOS ANGELES -- With the fracas that happened after Friday night's game between the D-backs and Dodgers, along with the amazing job done by Arizona's bullpen, it could be easy to overlook the fact that the real star of the show was Carson Kelly.

The Arizona catcher smacked a pair of late home runs, accounting for all of the D-backs' runs in their 3-2 win over the Dodgers in 11 innings. The victory kept the D-backs 1 1/2 games back in the race for the second National League Wild Card spot, and it was their fifth win in seven games since the Trade Deadline.

• Box score

“It’s a monster win for us,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I feel like this team is emerging and heading in a very positive direction, and that’s the feel I get. That’s my job. I pay attention to those things, and I’ve been feeling it for a couple of days now.”

The D-backs appeared to be on their way to another disheartening loss at Dodger Stadium as the Dodgers carried a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning with closer Kenley Jansen on the mound.

Nick Ahmed led off the ninth with a bloop single to left field, and Kelly followed with a home run to right-center to tie the game. It was Kelly's second homer of the year off Jansen. On July 3, Kelly hit a go-ahead solo homer off the Dodgers' closer in a game the D-backs went on to lose in the 10th.

“He’s a tremendous closer,” Kelly said. “He has a lot of good stuff, but I hit one of his mistakes early on, and then got another one tonight. Just pretty simple. I just put the bat on the ball. In those big moments, I’ve had some in the past and I think the biggest thing is just staying calm and sticking to my game. When the noise gets going in tough moments like that, you really have to just trust your preparation and trust yourself.”

However, Kelly wasn't done for the night.

Leading off the 11th against Julio Urias, Kelly hit a 1-2 breaking ball over the left-field wall to put the D-backs up, 3-2.

“It was actually a changeup,” Kelly said. “He had thrown one earlier in the at-bat, swung right through it, thought it was a really good pitch, I had it in the back of my head, but at that point, when you get two strikes, you’re just battling away and trying to put a good swing on it and help your team.”

The Dodgers built a 2-0 lead in the third on a sacrifice fly by A.J. Pollock and a two-out RBI double by Will Smith.

The runs came off D-backs starter Robbie Ray, who did not allow a hit after Smith’s two-bagger. In fact, the Dodgers did not have another baserunner until 22 batters later, when Joc Pederson led off the 11th with a walk against Archie Bradley.

Ray said he feels it was the D-backs' biggest win so far this year.

“We were down the whole game and fought back and won it in extra innings," Ray said. "It was huge.”