Fletcher's clutch outfield assist switches Arizona's luck

OAKLAND -- When the D-backs returned to the Coliseum a little more than 10 hours after they had departed, they were spent, both physically and mentally, following Tuesday night's hard-fought loss in 12 innings. It was their first time playing extra innings in 2023, and the four-hour, nine-minute marathon was their longest game of the season by nearly an hour.

"We were hungover a little bit from last night," manager Torey Lovullo said. "Not in the sense of being hungover from alcohol, but hungover from the idea of losing a tough game. It was still lingering in this clubhouse."

The ghosts of the previous evening hung around in Wednesday's series finale, particularly when Arizona coughed up a late-game lead in a way that was eerily similar to the night before. But the D-backs battled back to seize the rubber game, 5-3, and take two out of three from the A's. Arizona has now won five of its past seven series.

"A series win is always important," said starter Ryne Nelson, who held the A's to one hit over 5 1/3 scoreless frames while setting season highs in strikeouts (6) and walks (4). "This team's really resilient. We don't really back down from much, and we tend to always punch back."

When Oakland rallied to tie -- and eventually win -- Tuesday night's showdown, Arizona fizzled, unable to do the little things that have brought the team success early in the season. Though the D-backs again faltered late in the game on Wednesday, they were able to slow things down by halting the A's momentum.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the A's had walked themselves back into contention, eventually knotting the game on Ramón Laureano's three-run shot off recently recalled Luis Frías. With Tony Kemp on second base, Oakland very nearly went ahead when Esteury Ruiz singled up the middle.

Not on Dominic Fletcher's watch. He got a good jump and was the first one to reach the ball when it dropped in shallow left-center field, wasting no time in uncorking a throw to home. The one-hopper arrived just in time for backstop Jose Herrera to swipe tag a diving Kemp before he touched the plate.

"Dom saved us," Lovullo said. "You tie the game, and they scratch together a couple more hits, and you're thinking, 'We're a little bit snake-bit right now.'"

"He hit it off the end; it kind of squeaked through the outfield," Fletcher said. "I just wanted to throw something hard and low. … It ended up being a pretty good throw, so it worked out."

The play at the plate took the air out of Oakland's rally just in time for Arizona's bats to wake up. The D-backs had been held to three hits -- including a pair of home runs from Christian Walker and Corbin Carroll -- through seven innings, but they once more began to get runners aboard and went ahead for good off the strength of a two-run ninth.

Herrera drove in the winning run on a sac fly, grinding through a six-pitch at-bat against A's right-hander Adrián Martínez, while Ketel Marte added some insurance with an RBI knock.

"There were some very lean innings in there," Lovullo said. "I think Dom Fletcher got a base hit after a string of really tough at-bats, and from that point forward to the back-end of the game, if I can remember correctly, it was just a really good approach. Guys staying on pitches, following how they're getting pitched and trusting what's going to be coming out."

The night before, Lovullo had expressed a desire to see his lineup be more patient at the plate, and that showed up on Wednesday afternoon when the D-backs got the last two pitchers they saw -- Martínez and Shintaro Fujinami -- to throw a combined 29 pitches in the top of the ninth.

The shift in approach from one game to the next paid off for Arizona -- and it may have helped the team build some character along the way.

"I can't imagine what these players feel like," Lovullo said. "It was a huge win for us. There were some moments where we could have shut down and felt sorry for ourselves, and we didn't. I'm also very proud of this group. They fought as hard as I've seen a team fight all year long."