PHOENIX -- To lead the major leagues in one-run victories, you need to finesse a few different formulas.
And checking in second for comeback victories requires even more big-finish imagination.
On Monday, the Diamondbacks went with home runs from Wil Nieves and Adam Eaton, two guys who hadn’t gone yard all season.
On Tuesday, Arizona trotted out the typical when Paul Goldschmidt homered twice within the last three innings of a walk-off bonanza.
Wednesday afternoon was a rare tour de force from the D-backs’ bullpen, which rallied from its shaky 2013 history -- including some big Monday tremors -- to give their teammates enough time to come up with the offensive particulars of a third consecutive walk-off win over the Orioles at Chase Field.
For the record, second baseman Aaron Hill provided the walk-off juice by singling home Gerardo Parra for a 5-4 win after O’s reliever Bud Norris surrendered two walks to open the last of the … wait for it … 14th inning.
“The bullpen was great,” D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said after watching his pen become mighty enough to pick up ace Patrick Corbin and blank Baltimore for the final seven innings.
The top dog on Wednesday was Josh Collmenter, who’s attempting to make ‘crafty right-hander’ part of baseball’s lexicon.
Held out of the first two games of this series by Gibson (after serious work against the New York Mets last weekend), Collmenter was fresh enough to go three innings.
Collmenter did give up a couple of hits to Baltimore, but -- with every ball in play serving as potential disaster in this marathon -- had enough mechanical peculiarity to strike out five Orioles.
And, for the second night in a row, the winner in extras was veteran Heath Bell.
Gibson, who bristled 24 hours earlier after being asked about seemingly obvious bullpen concerns -- “What do I have to be concerned about?” -- has been rewarded, in the short term, for standing by his relief men.
With the Dodgers attempting to corrupt any chance for compelling moments in the National League West derby, and the wild-card leaders starting to roll, the cardiac D-backs have no time to slack off.
But shouldn’t these electrifying comeback wins make this team confident as it heads for Pittsburgh?
“We can’t look at it that way,” Martin Prado, one of the league’s hottest hitters since the All-Star break, said following a two-hit shift that included playing left field. “We can’t expect to keep winning games like that. What we can do is keep believing and try to take this through to the end.”
By continuing to embrace that in-the-moment process of rallying in single games, however, the D-backs have refused to slink away. On Wednesday, for example, they stepped into an unexpected 4-1 hole when Corbin gave up four earned runs in the second inning.
The killer was a wayward change-up that Manny Machado clobbered for a two-run homer.
“His fastball location was good early,” Gibson said of Corbin, “but his secondary pitches weren’t.”
But in typical Diamondbacks fashion, Corbin refused to give in, allowing just four base runners over his last five innings.
“The guys are great in these games,” Gibson said. “They have a great demeanor.”
