Diamondbacks 15, White Sox 4: Not even close

The D’Backs (83-74), who moved a bit closer to clinching a playoff spot, crushed the White Sox (60-97) by 11 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

In the bottom of the first, the White Sox got to Arizona starter Zach Davies. With one out, Andrew Benintendi and Andrew Vaughn hit back-to-back singles to set the South Siders up for potential damage. Up to the plate stepped Eloy Jiménez, who took advantage of the RBI opportunity: The Big Baby launched a fastball over the heart of the plate 415 feet to give the White Sox a 3-0 lead.

The D’Backs got one of those runs back in the top of the second, when first baseman Christian Walker took White Sox starter José Ureña deep. However, the South Siders extended their lead back to three in the bottom half, when Tim Anderson, Benintendi, and Jiménez all singled. The single by Jiménez drove in a run, so through two innings, he had four RBIs.

With one out in the top of the third, Geraldo Perdomo singled, and Corbin Carroll walked. From there, Ureña got Ketel Marte to hit a grounder right back to the mound. Ureña was in perfect position to start an inning-ending double play, but his throw was wide, and it sailed into center field. Perdomo scored, Carroll advanced to third, and there was still only one out. Tommy Pham hit into a sacrifice fly to reduce Arizona’s deficit to one.

In the fifth, with the White Sox still ahead by a score of 4-3, the floodgates opened on Ureña and the South Siders. Perdomo drew a leadoff walk, and Carroll hit a grounder to second. The White Sox had an easy out at second, and even with Carroll’s speed it seemed as though they had a chance at a double play. However, when Anderson received the toss from Elvis Andrus, he took his foot off second base a bit too soon, and everyone was safe. After that, Marte singled, and Pham walked to force in the tying run.

At that point, Yohan Ramírez replaced Ureña on the mound, and Walker immediately greeted Ramírez with a bases-clearing triple to give Arizona its first lead of the game. Alek Thomas added an RBI single, and two batters later, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to wrap up a six-run frame. The D’Backs led for the remainder of the game.

Arizona extended its lead in the sixth, when Walker drilled another extra-base hit with a home run off of reliever Sammy Peralta. Then, in the eighth, Marte crushed a solo homer off reliever Declan Cronin.

That was it for the home runs, but the D’Backs continued to pour it on in the ninth. Gurriel drew a leadoff walk, and old friend/hitter of three home runs in one game Seby Zavala entered the game and drew a walk of his own. Two batters later, Perdomo drove in both of them with a triple, and Jake McCarthy drove in Arizona’s 15th and final run with a ground out.

With the Cubs blowing a six-run lead in Atlanta and losing in heartbreaking fashion, Arizona’s hold on the second wild card grew to a full game tonight.

These teams will face each other again tomorrow afternoon. The first pitch is scheduled to take place at 1:10 p.m. Central. NBC Sports Chicago, MLB Network, and WMVP 1000 AM will cover the game.