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Snap Judgments: MLB Game of the Week (Marlins at D-backs, 09.23.17)

MLBPhotos by Adesina O. Koiki on add comment 1.69K views
Sammantha-Maria Herbaugh/ALOST
Though the Diamondbacks were not able to clinch a playoff berth tonight, Paul Goldschmidt made a little bit of personal history by hitting his 36th home run this season, tying his career high. (Sammantha-Maria Herbaugh/ALOST)

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MLB: Miami Marlins at Arizona Diamondbacks (09.23.17)

 

akoiki-passport2 – by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief

 

PHOENIX — The playoff celebration for the Arizona Diamondbacks was put on hold, at least for one night. Giancarlo Stanton’s historic pursuit of his personal home run target, however, was one step closer to being completed.

The major’s leader in home runs launched his 57th dinger of the season as the Marlins doubled up Arizona 12-6 in another high-scoring shootout between the two teams at Chase Field on Saturday night. The win also prevented the Diamondbacks from clinching a playoff spot, as their magic number to do so was reduced to one earlier in the evening when the St. Louis Cardinals lost in Pittsburgh.

After combining for 24 runs last night in a 13-11 Arizona victory, more crooked numbers were in store for tonight as the Diamondbacks defense ended up being its own worst enemy. Specifically, Arizona starting pitcher Taijuan Walker committed errors on back-to-back plays in the third inning to allow the Marlins to tie the game at one. Stanton then followed with a two-run double to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead, An RBI single by Justin Bour and a sacrifice fly from Brian Anderson completed a five-run inning for Miami.

Arizona responded in the bottom half of the inning, as the first two men got on base before Paul Goldschmidt blasted his 36th home run of the season to cut Miami’s lead to 5-4. Goldschmidt, along with Stanton, is a leading candidate for the National League MVP Award, and his dinger tied his career-high for home runs in a single season.

It only took the subsequent half inning for Stanton to fire the next salvo in the MVP race, launching a line-drive solo home run into left for his 57th home run. In the process, Stanton, who has made clear recently that be believes that the authentic single-season home run record is Roger Maris’ 61 in 1961, set a new Marlins record for runs batted in in a single season, as he now has 125. Preston Wilson previously held the record after driving in 121 runs in 2000.

Arizona’s J.D. Martinez hit his 43rd home run this season, with 27 coming for the Diamondbacks after coming over from Detroit and 14 homers this month, setting a new Arizona franchise mark for homers in a month. Luis Gonzalez held the previous record of 13, which he set back in April 2001.

*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from today’s game, with all photos taken by Arizona-based photographer Sammantha-Maria Herbaugh. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 35 pictures in total.

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