Last Night In Baseball: How’d He Hit That?! D-Backs Walk Off Into Wild-Card Spot

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:

The Diamondbacks have won their way right into holding a postseason spot, as Tuesday’s win over the Athletics in extra innings, paired with the Cardinals’ fourth-straight defeat, put Arizona in a tie with the Pirates for the last wild-card spot in the NL. It almost didn’t happen, though: the D-backs were up 4-1 after seven innings, but then the A’s stormed back with a run in the eighth and two in the ninth.

With the A’s down to their final out, shortstop Jacob Wilson picked up his lone hit of the day, a two-run homer to tie it up, 4-4.

The Athletics would then add on another in the top of the 10th when first baseman Jonah Heim drove in the lead runner with a sac fly. But that mostly set the D-backs up for the dramatic victory in the bottom of the inning. Third baseman Nolan Arenado singled to center, driving in right fielder Corbin Carroll…

…which brought up Ildemaro Vargas with the bases loaded and one out. The fourth pitch from right-hander Luis Medina was a 98.6 mph four-seam fastball, way,way up and above the strike zone. But still somehow not where it could escape Vargas’ bat.

Look again at how high that pitch was! It was up at Vargas’ eyes! And he hit it on the ground, through the hole in the infield and into left, giving Gabriel Moreno an easy trot home from third base for the win.

In 2025, Rockies’ backstop Hunter Goodman hit 31 homers, a career-high that would also seem like a ton of home runs in a season where Cal Raleigh wasn’t setting records for backstops and switch-hitters. Now, through July 21, Goodman matched last season’s total, and he picked a great day for it, too. Goodman’s solo dinger in the bottom of the eighth against the Nationals gave the Rockies an 8-7 lead, which Colorado would not relinquish.

It was bad timing for a loss for the Nationals, considering the Cardinals, Pirates and Marlins all lost — this was an opportunity to move up in the crowded wild-card race, but instead, Washington remains 1.5 back. Not that it’s a massive deficit by any means, but considering how many teams are chasing so few spots, losses like this could always come back to haunt.

Speaking of the Marlins losing, Miami fell to the Astros, 5-3. Before taking the L, though, the Marlins managed to pull off a triple play. Around the horn, to third baseman Leo Jiménez, to second baseman Xavier Edwards and finally to first and Kyle Stowers.

This one was ugly. First, some setup. In the bottom of the first, third baseman Alec Bohm drove in first baseman Bryce Harper to go up, 1-0 over the Dodgers. That would end up being the only run the Phillies would score, though.

The Dodgers had their own issues crossing the plate, not just figuratively but literally. Shohei Ohtani at first appeared to drive in a run, but he decided to try to leg it out for a double and, after a review, was called out at second, nullifying the run scoring since Eliezer Alfonzo thought he had plenty of time and didn’t have to go as hard as possible running home. Ohtani running when he maybe should not have, and Alonzo not running as hard as he needed to. A couple of whoops, yeah, but give it a second, that will be eclipsed.

Third baseman Max Muncy would end up hitting a two-run homer in the next inning to give the Dodgers a lead…

…and the Phillies would threaten to tie things up in the bottom of the ninth. Bohm singled off Tanner Scott to lead off the inning, then catcher J.T. Realmuto doubled, sending pinch-runner Justin Crawford to third. Here’s where things get weird.

Right fielder Brandon Marsh came to the plate with one out. He hit a ground ball to third, and Bohm realized he was in trouble as the lead runner right near Muncy. So, he stood between third and home to give Realmuto time to get to third, and simultaneously start a rundown that might give him a chance to score and tie the game. Realmutodid head to third, and then for some reason instead of just letting Bohm be tagged out at third as things went back and forth,ran back to second.

So. The Dodgers got Bohm, and then they got Realmuto, too — that was the ballgame. Instead of two outs and a runner on first and third with center fielder Derek Hill up, the game was over and the Phillies lost. Brutal.

Center fielder Luis Robert Jr. recently returned to the Mets’ lineup after a lengthy stint on the IL, and made his presence felt. Robert hit this ball 451 feet, with an exit velocity of 112.2 mph — it took just about four seconds to get from the plate to the stands, and Bryse Wilson knew it was gone the second he heard the sound the bat made.

What a shot. The Mets would win 4-0, which was great for them, but Robert was somehow outdone on the same night despite this impressive blast. And that’s because…

The Padres defeated the Braves 8-3, thanks to a couple of homers from third baseman Manny Machado and a good night from right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who drove in three with a 3-for-5 performance. Tatis hit a double, but his most impressive plate appearance was the one that ended in a474-foot dinger.

Dear lord. JR Ritchie caught too much of the plate with the eighth pitch of the at-bat, and Tatis drove it back 111 mph to left-center, to the back of the bleachers. That thing one-hopped its way to the outfield concourse! Tatis earned the right to admire this one, that’s for sure.

The Padres, along with the Diamondbacks, were the only other team chasing the ones with wild cards to win on Tuesday. And San Diego was already ahead when Tatis unloaded this one, but it was some exclamation point.

The Reds and Mariners faced off, which meant that Eugenio Suárez was facing off against his former team. And he’s had a tough season, but it didn’t look like it against Seattle. Suárez had just one hit, but he made it count by going yard to put the Reds up 2-0.

He also showed off his defense with a reach that kept a ball from heading into the outfield, and converted from the backhand into an overhead throw to first from foul territory. Sure, it was a little bit off — Sal Stewart had to stretch to bring in the throw — but Suárez got it there in the air despite the distance and off-balance toss.

Left fielder Randy Arozarena felt he was safe, even making the sign as if he was while running, but nope. Suárez and Stewart pulled this one off. And the Reds ended up with a 4-2 win, as well, dropping Seattle half-a-game further behind the idle Red Sox.

Pete Crow-Armstrong. He’s pretty good defensively, not sure if you’ve heard about this. Great with the bat, after some early struggles, anyway, butalways thriving with the glove. Like he did on Tuesday against the Tigers in an 11-2 Cubs victory.

He makes it look surprisingly easy, but there’s a reason he’s ranked first in Outs Above Average in Statcast for the second year in a row. It’s only easy for guys like him.

A night after getting blown out 10-3 by the White Sox, the Rangers responded with a 10-0 victory. Right fielder Brandon Nimmo was a significant part of that, scoring two runs and driving in two himself with a 4-for-4 showing. The main highlight? This home run to get the Rangers on the board in the first place and put them up 2-0.

Nimmo also had three singles, and the win gave the Rangers back possession of first-place in the AL West. Texas is just half-a-game up on the Mariners and 51-50 — there’s no guarantee the eventual division champion is even a .500 team at this point, but hey, a postseason spot is a postseason spot.