PHOENIX — Gabriel Moreno singled to right to score Evan Longoria in the 13th inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to beat the Chicago Cubs 7-6 on Saturday night.
With runners at the corners and two outs and Arizona down to its last strike, Emmanuel Rivera hit a liner off right-hander Hayden Wesneski’s pitching arm that rebounded toward shortstop. Dansby Swanson let the ball bounce, but it spun away from him for a hit that allowed the tying run to score. Moreno followed with his single, and Longoria slid headfirst and got his left hand around Yan Gomes’ mitt after the catcher gloved Seiya Suzuki’s throw.
“I’m trying to get as big of a secondary lead as I can,” Longoria said. “It helps when it’s two strikes because any time that the bat moves forward I can start running. I knew that the ball was hit hard and Suzuki has a great throwing arm.”
“Obviously, speed is not part of his game, but nothing was stopping him,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said about Longoria.
The Diamondbacks closed within a half-game of the Cubs for the second NL wild-card berth and are tied with Cincinnati for the third and final spot, with Miami a half-game behind the tied teams. The Cubs lost their fourth in a row and fell 6 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central.
At 4 hours, 24 minutes, it was the longest game of the season, topping 4:10 for a Texas-Minnesota matchup Aug. 27.
“Top five, easily,” Lovullo said of ranking the game that saw 14 pitchers and only one position player left on the bench for each team.
Joe Mantiply (2-2), the eighth Arizona pitcher, worked two innings. Wesneski (2-5) took the loss.
“This team is resilient. We've had some tough losses, and we've handled it before," Cubs manager David Ross said. "We got to do a lot of little things better, but they continue to fight. Couldn't finish it tonight.”
Each team scored in the 10th. Nico Hoerner, the automatic runner at second, stole third and scored when Moreno's throw got away. But the Diamondbacks tied it on Corbin Carroll's RBI single in the bottom half.
Hoerner singled in a run in the Cubs' 11th, but Lourdes Gurriel's third RBI of the night scored the tying run.
Christian Walker’s ground-rule double produced the first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth, scoring Tommy Pham who had led off with a triple. Walker scored on Gurriel‘s two-out single.
But the Cubs chased Kyle Davies in the fifth and took the lead. A double, an infield single and a walk loaded the bases to start the inning and end Davies’ night. Luis Frias relieved and walked Nico Hoerner on a full count to force in a run. A double play scored the tying run and Cody Bellinger singled sharply to right to give Chicago a 3-2 edge.
The Diamondbacks used three consecutive singles to tie it and knock out Kyle Hendricks. Gurriel again drove in the run and José Cuas relieved. Hendricks allowed seven hits and three runs. He walked one and struck out three.
Davies gave up five hits and three runs in four-plus innings, walking two and striking out five.
NOT VALENTINE’S DAY
First base umpire Junior Valentine had two calls overturned in the top of the fourth.
Bellinger hit a towering fly down the right-field line that Valentine initially ruled a two-run homer. Arizona challenged the ruling and the call was reversed on replay. Bellinger then struck out on a changeup from Davies.
After another out, Seiya Suzuki hit a grounder to third, and Valentine called Suzuki out on a close play. This time Chicago challenged and again the replay in a reversal and resulted in a single.
A third call was later overturned. Second base umpire Nic Lentz ruled Ian Happ safe on a stolen-base attempt in the seventh before review changed it to an out.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: Placed RHP Michael Fulmer on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain. Fulmer had been sidelined with the same ailment from Aug. 26 to Monday, when he picked up a save at Colorado. That was his only appearance since returning. Daniel Palencia, who had been optioned to Iowa on Friday to make room for the return of fellow RHP Marcus Stroman, was recalled Saturday to replace Fulmer.
“He didn’t recover well from the Colorado outing,” Ross said about Fulmer, who is 3-5 with a 4.22 ERA. “It’s a tough loss. He’s somebody who been really important to our success down there.”
NEXT
The series concludes Sunday night with Cubs rookie LHP Jordan Wicks (3-0, 1.99) facing Arizona RHP Ryne Nelson (7-8, 5.53).
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