October 4, 2017: Archie Bradley’s unlikely triple helps Diamondbacks win wild-card slugfest

Going into 2017, not many in baseball had high expectations for the Arizona Diamondbacks or Colorado Rockies. Both were National League West Division afterthoughts after a 2016 season in which Colorado went 75-87 and Arizona 69-93. The D-backs had not made the postseason since 2011, the Rockies since 2009. When ESPN consulted 35 experts for predictions at the start of the season, only five pundits chose Colorado for even a wild-card spot, while Arizona was left out of the playoff picture entirely.1

While the experts were correct in predicting the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers to take their fifth consecutive NL West crown, they undersold Arizona and Colorado. Both the Diamondbacks and Rockies even spent time in first before the Dodgers seized control at midseason.2 At the end, the D-backs were second in the division at 93-69, and the Rockies were third at 87-75. Neither team had experienced a winning season in the past five years, but both made the playoffs, setting up their showdown in the NL wild-card game.

Due to Arizona’s better record, the game was held at Chase Field in Phoenix. The retractable roof was closed and the crowd of 48,803 was raucous. Arizona ace Zack Greinke took the mound in the second season of a six-year, $206.5 million contract. After an underwhelming first year with the Diamondbacks, the 33-year-old Greinke lived up to expectations in ’17, going 17-7 with a 3.20 ERA. He showed this fine form in the top of the first, inducing three consecutive groundouts.

Colorado’s ace, Jon Gray, was in his third season in the big leagues at age 25. After struggling to begin his career, Gray put it all together in ’17, going 10-4 with a 3.67 ERA. These numbers were quite impressive considering the high altitude of Colorado’s Coors Field.

The D-backs immediately jumped on Gray in the first. David Peralta grounded a leadoff single up the middle, then Ketel Marte lined another single, sending Peralta to third base. This brought up Arizona’s most prominent star of the era, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt had hit .296 with 36 homers and 120 RBIs during the regular season, leading to a third-place finish in NL Most Valuable Player voting. On the first pitch, Gray hung a curveball well above the strike zone. Goldschmidt tomahawked it high and far, several rows beyond the left-field fence. The Diamondbacks led 3-0, and bedlam ruled at Chase Field.

Greinke shut down the Rockies again in the second with another one-two-three inning, and Peralta ignited another rally in the D-backs’ half by stroking another groundball single to center. Marte then ripped a high fastball into the right-center-field gap, and the ball rolled to the wall. Peralta scored easily, making it 4-0 Arizona, and Marte motored to third with a triple. This was the end of the night for Gray after only 1⅓ innings.3

The Rockies showed life in the third, putting runners on the corners with one out, but Greinke escaped the jam by retiring NL batting champion Charlie Blackmon and D.J. LeMahieu.

In the bottom of the inning, Tyler Anderson took over in relief and allowed a single to Jake Lamb. One out later, Daniel Descalso came to the plate. A 30-year-old light-hitting utility infielder, Descalso was Arizona’s most experienced postseason player, a veteran of 44 playoff games with the St. Louis Cardinals. On a 1-and-1 offspeed pitch, Descalso appeared to be in front of the ball, but pulled it with power to right. It sailed well over the fence for a two-run homer, pushing Arizona’s lead to 6-0.

The Rockies finally broke through against Greinke in the fourth. Carlos Gonzalez lined a leadoff single, and after Nolan Arenado hit into a fielder’s choice, Trevor Story grounded another single up the middle. Former Diamondback Gerardo Parra followed with another single, putting Colorado on the board and sending Story to third. Another former D-back, Mark Reynolds, squibbed a groundball off the end of his bat to first base. Goldschmidt made the play unassisted, but Story scored and Parra advanced to second. Jonathan Lucroy drilled an opposite-field double into the right-field corner, scoring Parra to make it 6-3. Pinch-hitter Alexi Amarista brought the Rockies another run closer, lining a single that scored Lucroy. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo pulled Greinke from the game in favor of lefty Andrew Chafin, who escaped the inning when center fielder A.J. Pollock made a nice sliding catch on Blackmon’s fly ball.

Despite Marte drilling his second triple (and third hit) of the night, Rockies reliever Chris Rusin held Arizona scoreless for the first time in the fourth, with help from a diving play by Gold Glover Arenado at third. For the top of the fifth, Lovullo turned to number-two starter Robbie Ray. The future Cy Young Award winner had posted the best season of his career to that point,4 going 15-5 with a 2.89 ERA. He set down the side in order, punching out LeMahieu and Gonzalez.

Ray and the Rockies’ bullpen continued to exchange zeros, with veteran Pat Neshek taking over for Rusin in the sixth inning. Arizona still led 6-4 going into the seventh.

Lucroy led off the inning against Ray and drilled an 0-and-1 slider deep to center field. The ball caromed high off the wall, and Lucroy cruised into second with his second double of the game. After a wild pitch moved Lucroy to third, Ray fanned Ian Desmond. Lovullo went back to the bullpen for another southpaw, former Rockie Jorge de la Rosa. On de la Rosa’s second pitch, Blackmon dragged a squeeze bunt up the first-base line, scoring Lucroy easily. Lovullo summoned his fifth pitcher of the game, right-hander Archie Bradley, who was one of the league’s most valuable relievers with a 1.73 ERA over 73 innings. Bradley retired LeMahieu to end the inning, but Arizona now clung to a one-run lead at 6-5.

The game turned bizarre in the bottom of the seventh. Lamb led off with his third single, and Descalso walked with one out. Jeff Mathis struck out, bringing up Bradley with runners on first and second and two outs.

The 25-year-old Bradley had batted only four times during the season and was a career .098 hitter at the time.5 Arizona needed Bradley to stay in the game and pitch, so Lovullo elected not to go to a pinch-hitter.

Bradley took the first two pitches for balls, then after two strikes, Neshek hung a slider down the middle of the plate. Bradley put a powerful swing on it, driving the ball deep into the left-center-field gap. By the time Blackmon got the ball back to the infield, Bradley was standing on third with an improbable two-run triple, the first triple by a relief pitcher in postseason history.6 Arizona led 8-5 going into the eighth.

Riding the momentum of his historic hit, Bradley had to pitch the next inning with the heart of the Rockies’ order coming up and his energy likely drained from running the bases. After Gonzalez grounded out, Bradley faced Arenado, already a two-time home-run and RBI king at age 26. On a 1-and-1 hanging breaking ball, the star third baseman launched a fly ball to left-center-field that sailed well over the fence for a home run. Next up was Story, who hammered a fastball the other way to deep right field. The ball sailed just over the fence for another home run. It was a one-run game again at 8-7.

Despite Bradley’s struggles, Lovullo stayed with him, as he had few other trusted options available. Bradley bounced back by retiring Parra on a grounder. On another hanging breaking ball, pinch-hitter Pat Valaika nearly tied the game, ripping a high fly ball down the left-field line that hooked just foul. Valaika then doubled to right-center field, putting the tying run on second. Lucroy’s fly ball to deep right was caught by Martinez to end the inning. By the skin of their teeth, Bradley and the D-backs had escaped with the lead.

Arizona looked to put the game away in the bottom of the eighth. After Goldschmidt lined a one-out single against new pitcher Carlos Estevez, Black summoned closer Greg Holland. Martinez hit into a fielder’s choice, then Lamb came through with his fourth single of the contest. Facing Pollock with two on and two out, Holland uncorked a wild pitch, moving the runners to second and third. Pollock then lined a hanging slider deep into the right-center-field gap. Both runners scored easily, with Pollock reaching third. Arizona had its fourth three-bagger of the game, the most by any team in a postseason contest since the 1903 Boston Americans.7 More importantly, it was a three-run game again at 10-7.

Descalso was intentionally walked, and with runners on first and third, light-hitting catcher Mathis came to the dish.8Mathis surprised the Rockies with a bunt, which Holland overran and could not field cleanly. It was Arizona’s 17th hit of the game,9 and another run scored to make it 11-7.

Lovullo turned to closer Fernando Rodney for the ninth. After Gonzalez’s two-out RBI single made it 11-8, Rodney got Arenado to ground to second base. Descalso flipped to Marte at the bag, and the game was over. A chaotic, historic, high-scoring classic had ended with a memorable Arizona win, and the Diamondbacks were moving on to face the Dodgers.10 In 2017 the National League wild-card Game was truly wild. 

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. He also reviewed a game highlight video and a full-game video from MLB.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ARI/ARI201710040.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2017/B10040ARI2017.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nslXXnnIiY&t=4581s

Notes

1 “ESPN Expert Predictions: Will Anyone Catch the Cubs?” ESPN.com, March 31, 2017, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/page/SeasonpreviewMLB_2017predictions/2017-mlb-experts-mlb-team-predictions.

2 The Dodgers won 56 of 67 games between June 7 and August 25.

3 Six years later, Gray achieved a measure of playoff redemption against the D-backs when he earned the win in relief for the Texas Rangers in Game Three of the 2023 World Series.

4 Ray won the 2021 American League Cy Young Award as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.

5 Through the 2023 season, Bradley had appeared in 335 major-league games with five franchises. In regular-season play, he had six hits – all singles – in 68 at-bats, for a .095 batting average.

6 As of 2024, it remained the only postseason triple by a relief pitcher.

7 The Americans, later known as the Red Sox, hit five triples against the Pittsburgh Pirates in both Game Five and Game Seven of the 1903 World Series, the first-ever World Series between the National and American Leagues. According to Stathead.com, as of 2024 the 2017 Diamondbacks were the only team with four triples in a postseason game; nine teams had hit three triples in postseason games.

8 In 948 major-league games from 2005 through 2021, Mathis batted .194 with a 48 OPS+.

9 As of 2024, the Diamondbacks’ 17 hits are the most in major-league history in a wild-card game.

10 The Diamondbacks were swept in three games by Los Angeles in the NL Division Series.