The Arizona Diamondbacks suffered a doubtlessly devastating blow to their playoff probabilities on Saturday night time, dropping a 5-0 contest to the Padres (field rating) that noticed San Diego rating all of its runs within the prime of the ninth and on house runs.

The Diamondbacks, who didn’t document their first hit off Padres right-hander Randy Vásquez till the underside of the sixth inning on a Corbin Carroll double, nonetheless entered the ninth inning locked in a 0-0 tie. Supervisor Torey Lovullo turned to lefty reliever A.J. Puk, possessor of a 0.33 ERA in 29 appearances with the membership. Sadly, Puk’s ERA is not going to stay so low after Saturday night time.

That is as a result of Puk promptly surrendered house runs to Kyle Higashioka (a two-run shot) and Brandon Lockridge (a solo job) to offer San Diego a 3-0 lead. Scott McGough would then examine in to switch Puk … solely to surrender a single to Jurickson Profar and one other two-run house run to Jurickson Profar to place Arizona down by a 5-0 margin. The Diamondbacks had been unable to muster a lot of a rally of their half of the ninth.

The Diamondbacks entered Saturday locked in a three-way tie with the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets for the Nationwide League’s second and third wild-card spots. The Braves defeated the Kansas Metropolis Royals on Saturday night time, whereas the Mets misplaced to the Milwaukee Brewers. Because of this, the Braves now have sole possession of the second-wild card spot, full with a one-game lead over each the Mets and Diamondbacks heading into the common season’s closing day.

In fact, this case is a bit more sophisticated than that means. For one, the Diamondbacks will wrap up their common season on Sunday; the Braves and Mets, alternatively, will play a doubleheader towards each other on Monday that was postponed due to Hurricane Helene. Moreover, the Diamondbacks misplaced their season collection to each the Braves and Mets, that means they’re out within the occasion of a tie.

In flip, Sunday’s season finale towards the Padres is near a must-win for the Diamondbacks. If Arizona loses and the Mets win, Arizona can be eradicated from postseason competition due to the aforementioned tiebreaker. If the Braves win or the Diamondbacks lose, the Braves will clinch a spot no matter what occurs within the Mets recreation on Sunday, or as a part of Monday’s doubleheader. 

Conversely, a Diamondbacks win on Sunday and losses from Atlanta and New York would have Arizona spraying champagne, with the Mets and Braves duking it out twice on Monday to find out who advances to the postseason. (The Braves maintain a 6-5 benefit within the season collection towards the Mets, that means that the primary recreation would clinch it for the Braves ought to it come to that.)