Esteury Ruiz hit a tiebreaking three-run double with two outs in the 11th inning and the Miami Marlins outlasted the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2 on Tuesday in Phoenix to prevent the D-backs from gaining ground in the National League wild-card race.
Taylor Clarke (2-4), the sixth Arizona pitcher, intentionally walked Kyle Stowers with one out in the 11th and walked Otto Lopez with two outs before Ruiz drove a ball to the wall in left-center.
Griffin Conine homered for the Marlins, who did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position until automatic runner Javier Sanoja was placed there to open the 10th in a 1-1 game.
Gabriel Moreno homered, singled, walked twice, stole a base and threw out two baserunners for the D-backs (80-72).
Ketel Marte had two doubles, and his two-out two-bagger in the 11th drove in Ildemaro Vargas to make it 4-2. Marte took third on a wild pitch before Moreno grounded out to end the game.
Josh Ekness (2-3), the eighth Miami pitcher, struck out two in two innings. The lone run he allowed was unearned.
The D-backs remained 2 1/2 games behind San Diego (82-69) in the NL wild-card chase, losing a chance to gain a game. The Chicago Cubs (84-68) and the Philadelphia Phillies (83-68) hold the top two wild-card positions. All four teams lost on Tuesday.
The Diamondbacks left two runners on base in both the ninth and 10th innings and stranded 15 overall. They finished 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo was thrown out on a bang-bang play at home on a grounder attempting to score from third with one out in the 10th.
Marte has hit safely in 12 of 13 games since being activated from the injured list.
Arizona starter Michael Soroka gave up one run and two hits in five innings, leaving when his pitch count hit 80 in his second start back from the injured list. He struck out six and walked one.
Soroka struck out five in a row after Sanoja singled to open the second. Sanoja has reached in 15 straight games.
Miami starter Janson Junk gave up one run and five hits in three innings before the Marlins’ bullpen took over. Junk struck out four and walked one.
–Field Level Media
