Estevan Florial hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the eighth inning as the host New York Yankees rallied three times Monday afternoon in a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Diamondbacks dropped into a tie with the Chicago Cubs as the final two wild-card qualifiers in the National League, with the Miami Marlins lurking one game back.
Arizona (82-74) lost for the second time in eight games and squandered three leads in a game that was rescheduled from Saturday.
With a 4-3 lead, Diamondbacks right-hander Kevin Ginkel (9-1) loaded the bases in the eighth on two singles and a walk before Oswald Peraza walked in the tying run. Florial followed with a fly ball to left to score Austin Wells and give the Yankees their first lead.
Rookie Everson Pereira added an RBI single off Miguel Castro for a 6-4 lead.
In a race to secure their first playoff spot since 2017, the Diamondbacks wasted one-run leads in the seventh and eighth innings.
Diamondbacks rookie Corbin Carroll had two of his three hits in the final three innings.
Carroll’s bases-loaded single in the eighth off Ian Hamilton gave Arizona 4-3 lead. An inning earlier, he notched his 51st stolen base and scored on a single by Gabriel Moreno’s single to make it 3-2.
Peraza hit a tying homer to open the seventh off Ryan Thompson, his second. The game remained tied when Arizona center fielder Alek Thomas made a leaping catch near the top of the wall to rob Aaron Judge of extra bases.
Hamilton (3-2) went 1 2/3 innings to secure the win and Clay Holmes earned his 22nd save with a perfect ninth inning.
Thomas hit a two-run double in the first and Wells tied it for the Yankees with a two-run home run in the fourth inning.
Arizona right-hander Merrill Kelly allowed two runs on four hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked two.
New York right-hander Clarke Schmidt allowed two runs on three hits in four innings. He struck out three and walked three.
–Field Level Media
