Blanco, Lamb rally D-backs to win
Arizona wins 5th straight, 8th in last 9 games
PHILADELPHIA — Gregor Blanco wants everyone to take notice when he hits a rare home run.
Blanco hit a tying tworun homer in the seventh and Jake Lamb drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly later in the inning to rally the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
According to MLB Stat- Cast, Blanco’s 23rd career homer — and second this season — against Aaron Nola (3-5) had an estimated distance of 424 feet into the concourse in right field.
“I hit one like that in Miami a couple years ago off Jose Fernandez that went into the upper deck,” Blanco said. “I don’t hit many, but when I hit a homer, I hit it far.”
Pinch-hitter Jeremy Hazelbaker starter off the seventh with an infield single, and Blanco followed with
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hhis tying shot on a 2-2 pitch.
“It wasn’t an easy at bat,” Blanco said. “Nola was doing a good job mixing up his pitches. In that situation I was just trying to put a good swing on the ball. He left it a little up and I was able to hit it out.”
David Peralta tripled among his three hits, including a single that followed Blanco’s homer. Peralta advanced to third on Paul Goldschmidt’s single off Pat Neshek and scored on Lamb’s fly ball to center field.
“We do well responding to a lot of negative moments and I think that’s what good teams do,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “They learn how to win and stay together. The big blow was Gregor’s home run to tie it, but inside of the game after that we had a lot of (good) little moments.”
Patrick Corbin (6-6) gave up four runs — two earned — and five hits while striking out five in six innings to get the win. Fernando Rodney got the last three outs for his 19th save.
The Diamondbacks have won five straight and eight of their last nine to improve to match their franchisebest mark through the first 68 games at 42-26.
Odubel Herrera had two hits and scored twice for the Phillies, and Maikel Franco drove in two runs.
The Phillies had a chance to tie it again in the bottom of the seventh when reliever Andrew Chafin put two runners on with two walks sandwiched around a sacrifice. He then struck out Herrera and Archie Bradley fanned Howie Kendrick.
“I was supposed to be ready for Kendrick and I was able to come in and retire him,” said Bradley, who has thrived as a setup man after struggling as a starter in Arizona. “I’ve really embraced what I’m doing. We all do. We’re all doing it for the sake of the team. This is fun. It’s fun to win and we want to keep it rolling.”