PHOENIX -- David Peralta has done a little bit of everything in his remarkable first 10 weeks in the major leagues, so maybe a steal of home should come as no surprise.
The play is a combination of passion and preparation, and Peralta has shown healthy doses of both in his first 55 games.
Peralta took advantage of a lob throw from Rockies catcher Michael McKenry back to the mound to dash for home with two outs in the seventh inning, giving the D-backs a four-run cushion in what became a 5-3 victory Friday at Chase Field.
Encouragement from his teammates helped, too.
"I was waiting for the right time to do it," Peralta said. "The catcher was throwing the ball soft to the pitcher, and as soon as I got to third base I was aggressive. They (bench) saw that I was trying to do something. They told me 'Do it. Do it. Don't be afraid.' OK. I'm going to do it."
Peralta, who tripled in a run earlier in the seventh, was aware McKenry occasionally flipped the ball back to the mound. With the third baseman playing deep, Peralta was able to get a good lead.
After a 1-2 pitch took McKenry to the outside part of the plate, McKenry lobbed the ball back and Peralta took off. Pitcher Rex Brothers rushed in to attempt to catch the throw but he could not handle it. Peralta almost certainly would have made it anyway.
"I saw the ball flying and I went right away to home," Peralta said. "I knew it was going to be kind of hard for (Brothers) to catch the ball and make a good throw to the catcher and the catcher try to tag me. That is not easy to do real quick."
It the kind of play that has given Peralta the look of a fixture for the future. He had a double, a triple, a walk, scored two runs and drove in one Friday, and he has 64 hits in his first 55 games, tying a franchise record set by Stephen Drew in 2006.
"You could see he was gauging him," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "He just timed him up. It was just the perfect storm where the pitch was. He (McKenry) just reached over and threw it up. We've talked about it before. He kind of always does it, flips it back. Two outs, worth a try. He executed it perfectly."
Peralta said it was his first steal of home at any level.
"I already apologized to Rex," McKenry said. "I feel awful about it."
Oliver Perez had to duck a broken bat while fielding a comebacker by Corey Dickerson in the seventh inning. With the bat spinning toward his head, Perez dropped to his knees to corral the ball. His throw to first from a sitting position was wide, and Dickerson was credited with a single.
8 -- hitting streak for Ender Inciarte.
LAST CALL
Andrew Chafin, a Tommy John survivor, joined the D-backs' bullpen when he was promoted from Triple-A Reno on Friday. "Really excited to be here, and can't wait to see what happens," Chafin has been a starter virtually all his career since being a sandwich pick in the 2011 draft, spending time in the bullpen in 2012 only during a dead arm period. About his future role, he said: "I'm not worried about that. I'm just going to try to do the job at hand." Chafin was 8-6 with a 3.96 ERA in 23 starts between Double-A Mobile and Reno.
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