Familiar foes set for wild NL game

PHOENIX — The Diamondbacks and Rockies share a spring training facility and played each other 19 times this season.

They know each other very well.

Now comes game No. 20 on Wednesday night, the biggest one of them all, an NL wildcard matchup with Arizona’s Zack Greinke facing Colorado’s young Jon Gray.

“There’s no secrets here,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We know what they like to do. They know our players. ... They know our tendencies. And we know theirs.”

It’s a matchup of under-the-radar franchises in the NL West that had turnaround seasons under firstyear managers. The Rockies are in the playoffs for the first time since 2009. The Diamondbacks haven’t been here since 2011. The game is sold out at 48,686-seat Chase Field.

“A couple of guys were wondering why the fans weren’t here early in the season and when were they going to start showing up,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said Tuesday. “And I told them you keep playing the same type of baseball, they’re going to come out and support us.”

Diamondbacks slugger J.D. Martinez relishes the idea of playing in the energized atmosphere of the winner-takeall contest, but said the players can’t get too caught up in the scene.

“It’s going to be awesome, it’s going to be fun,” he said. “But at the same time you have to control it. I think that’s going to be the hardest thing for everyone, both sides. It’s just being able to control that environment and being able to control your adrenaline, your emotions and your feelings, because all that stuff ’s going to be on a high.”

The teams split 10 games at Chase Field. Containing the power of both squads is crucial to the outcome of their 11th matchup there.

“Power’s always dangerous,” Black said, “because it’s one swing and especially one swing with a couple of guys on can really change the game.”