Jake Lamb’s grand slam produces big win for Arizona Diamondbacks

As the ball carried high into the night sky, a pause hung over Chase Field.

“Stay true,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo thought as he stared at it from the dugout on Tuesday. “Stay fair.”

The ball drifted higher and higher, an eternity, Lovullo said, until it bounced off the foul pole in right field. It went just 343 feet, one of the shorter home runs Jake Lamb has hit this season.

But it was undeniably the biggest.

On a night when wild-card foes Colorado and Milwaukee lost, on a night when the Diamondbacks once again looked like they would never get a hit with runners in scoring position, Lamb’s grand slam in the seventh inning off Dodgers reliever Tony Watson to give Arizona a 6-3 victory was one of the loudest and most meaningful explosions heard at Chase Field in years.

“A pretty special night,” Lovullo said.

So special that after Archie Bradley needed only seven pitches to retire the Dodgers in the eighth inning, he pumped his fist as he walked off the mound and shouted, “This is our house.”

It didn’t matter to Bradley that the Dodgers are still 15 games up in the National League West standings. He was at the Phoenix Suns-Oklahoma City game late in the NBA season when the Suns prevented Russell Westbrook from getting his record-setting 42nd triple-double and guard Devin Booker screamed the same words:

“This is our house!”

After the game, after he had calmed down, Bradley said Dodger fans were chiding him on Twitter about the separation in the standings. He didn’t care.

“That’s not what this was about,” he said. “This is our home field. … Look at the blue in the stands. This is our house, man. I don’t care how many games back we are, I don’t care if we’re the worst team in baseball. I want to win at home and I want to see the Diamondbacks fans in the stands. I don’t like to see blue in the stands. This is Chase Field. This is where the Diamondbacks play.”

For much of the game Tuesday, the Diamondbacks – at least offensively – resembled the same team that hit .179 with runners in scoring position on the recently completed 10-game road trip. They left two runners on with no outs in the first inning and Ketel Marte on third with no outs in the fifth.

They were still in it because Lamb and catcher Chris Iannetta had hit solo homers and starter Zack Godley had pitched another strong game, holding a Dodgers offense that had scored 28 runs in its past four games to eight hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings while striking out five and walking just one.

“Godley set a terrific tone,” Lovullo said. “… He’s been tremendous for us. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Yet it was still 3-2 Dodgers when the Diamondbacks came to bat in the seventh inning. With two outs, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts had Watson intentionally walk A.J. Pollock – even though it loaded the bases – in order to pitch to Lamb.

The move made sense. Lamb was hitting .143 against lefties on the season. Watson busted him inside with two-seam fastballs – “one just about took my hands off,” Lamb said – and ran the count to 1-2. Then he threw an 86 mph slider that hung over the middle of the plate. Lamb wasn’t expecting the pitch, but he reached out and got enough on it to send the ball toward the Dodgers bullpen in right field.

Bradley hoped the ball would land foul.

“I didn’t think it had a chance to get out,” he said.

Lamb, whose five RBIs gave him a team-high 90 on the season, knew he had hit it far enough. But he wasn’t certain it would stay fair.

Then it hit the foul pole with a loud “doink” and chants of “Beat LA” reverberated around Chase Field.

That the Diamondbacks finished the game 1 for 10 with RISP didn’t matter. Lamb got the one hit that mattered most.

“We’re not dumb. We know what’s going on,” Lamb said. “But you talk about guys like Pollock, myself, (David) Peralta, (Paul) Goldschmidt, (J.D.) Martinez, those guys have been in the league for a few years. They’re not feeling the pressure. It was just as a team we were not getting the job done.”

As Lamb spoke, a replay of his grand slam was being shown on the televisions in the Diamondbacks’ clubhouse. He barely looked up. Why did he need to see it again? He, his teammates, and the 24,810 in the stands, had just lived it.

“If that gets us kick-started in the right direction after some recent struggles,” Lovullo said, “I can understand why.”

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Wednesday’s game

Dodgers at Diamondbacks

When: 6:40 p.m.

Where: Chase Field (Roof hotline: 602-462-6262)

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (13-4, 3.10) vs. Dodgers LHP Alex Wood (13-1, 2.33).

TV/Radio: FSAZ/KMVP-FM (98.7), KHOV-FM (105.1)

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better pitching matchup all season. Greinke was hit hard his last outing, giving up nine hits and six earned runs to the Chicago Cubs in six innings. … At Chase Field, he’s 10-0 with a 2.39 ERA and has struck out 95 batters in 79 innings. … Greinke lost his only previous start against the Dodgers this year when he allowed five runs in five innings way back in April. … Wood has been a revelation for the Dodgers but he’s already pitched 40 more innings than he did all last year and recently complained of some fatigue in his left arm.

Coming up

Thursday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Anthony Banda (1-1, 3.86) vs. Dodgers RHP Yu Darvish (7-9, 3.81).

Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks TBD vs. Cubs RHP John Lackey (9-9, 4.81).

Saturday: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks TBD vs. Cubs LHP Jon Lester (8-6, 3.97).