D-backs' top 10 games of the decade
Some games are remembered because of individual performances, some for their significance and others because they were just plain quirky.
Over the past decade, the D-backs have had some of all three types. Here’s a look back at the Top 10 games of the decade:
1. D-backs 11, Rockies 8
Date: Oct. 4, 2017
The D-backs beat the Rockies in a National League Wild Card Game for the ages at Chase Field. Among the highlights was a triple by relief pitcher Archie Bradley, which scored a pair of runs and made him the first reliever to ever triple in a postseason game. The D-backs had four triples, the first team since the Boston Americans in 1903 to do that in a postseason game.
2. D-backs 1, Rays 0
Date: June 25, 2010
Edwin Jackson recorded the second no-hitter in club history in a rather untraditional way at Tropicana Field. Jackson walked eight and hit a batter while throwing a whopping 149 pitches in the process. The right-hander pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, and the D-backs already had their bullpen getting ready just in case.
3. D-backs 13, Dodgers 0
Date: Sept. 4, 2017
Outfielder J.D. Martinez hit four home runs off four different pitchers in a memorable night at Dodger Stadium. Martinez's homers came in the fourth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, and he covered just about every spot with homers to left, center, right and left-center.
4. D-backs 7, Dodgers 6 (10 innings)
Date: Sept. 27, 2011
Ryan Roberts kept the D-backs alive in their battle with the Brewers for home-field advantage in the NL Division Series with a dramatic walk-off grand slam against Javy Guerra. As he rounded second base, Roberts tried to get the attention of manager Kirk Gibson in the dugout and then imitated Gibson’s iconic arm pump from his 1988 World Series walk-off homer against Dennis Eckersley.
5. D-backs 8, Brewers 1
Date: Oct. 4, 2011
After losing the first two games of the NLDS in Milwaukee, the D-backs returned to Chase Field on the verge of being eliminated. Right-hander Josh Collmenter responded with seven innings of one-run baseball and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt delivered five RBIs, including a grand slam. The D-backs would go on to win Game 4 before dropping Game 5 in Milwaukee.
6. D-backs 3, Cardinals 2 (19 innings)
Date: Sept. 24, 2019
The D-backs trailed the Cardinals, 1-0, in the bottom of the ninth inning when Ildemaro Vargas hit a pinch-hit homer off Andrew Miller to tie the score. After St. Louis recaptured the lead, 2-1, in the 13th, pinch-hitter Caleb Joseph delivered a game-tying single. Finally, in the 19th, Vargas gave the D-backs the win with a walk-off single to left.
7. D-backs 4, Reds 0
Date: May 29, 2014
Collmenter became just the second D-backs pitcher to ever face the minimum 27 batters in a game as he beat the Reds at Chase Field. Randy Johnson was the other Arizona pitcher to accomplish the feat, and while the Big Unit did it as part of a perfect game, Collmenter did allow three hits. Each of the baserunners, however, was erased on a double play, and Collmenter needed just 94 pitches to complete the game.
8. Dodgers 3, D-backs 1
Date: March 22, 2014
The game itself was a pretty standard one, but what made it special was its location -- Sydney, Australia. The D-backs and Dodgers opened the 2014 regular season with a pair of games at the Sydney Cricket Grounds, the first time Australia had ever hosted a regular-season Major League game.
9. D-backs 5, Orioles 4 (14 innings)
Date: Aug. 14, 2013
Aaron Hill’s single in the 14th inning propelled the D-backs to a walk-off win, but what made this game so memorable was that it was the third straight walk-off win for the D-backs as they swept the Orioles in a three-game series. Adam Eaton hit a walk-off homer in the opener, and the next night, Goldschmidt delivered a ninth-inning homer to tie the score and another homer in the 11th to win it.
10. D-backs 3, Giants 1
Date: Sept. 23, 2011
The D-backs clinched the NL West title with a come-from-behind victory against the Giants at Chase Field. Down 1-0, Chris Young tied the game in the seventh with a double that scored Goldschmidt. Then in the eighth, Goldschmidt delivered a two-run triple off Sergio Romo and J.J. Putz closed things out in the ninth as the D-backs won their fifth division title.