It is hard this early in the season to say a certain win was a big one. But the Diamondbacks 16 inning win over the Cardinals Wednesday night which lasted five hours and 32 minutes, could be one the team looks back on later in the season.
Last season, the Diamondbacks had a lot of trouble digging themselves out of holes. They would fall behind and rarely make a comeback. It was indicative of how the season went as a whole as they never seemed to continue any sort of winning momentum to create a substantial winning streak.
But Wednesday against the Cardinals despite being down a three runs early, the Diamondbacks battled back to the tie the game on multiple occasions and ultimately cementing the comeback in the 16th on a Cliff Pennington walk-off single.
“I don’t know how many comeback wins we had last year but it wasn’t many,” Diamondbacks second baseman Aaron Hill told pros2preps.com on Friday. “To get one of those early. To feel that. To feel the intensity of the game, for the momentum to go with us, I think it was nice for everybody to be in that moment already.”
Momentum is something the Diamondbacks had trouble building off of last season and is something they hope the can sustain after a very solid start to the year. However, the Diamondbacks saw first hand last year with the how they swept the Giants to begin the season but ultimately missed the playoffs and watched the Giants win the World Series.
“You hear it time and time again in the first couple months of the season, it’s a long season,” Hill explained. “It is because anything can happen.”
One of the biggest reason’s for the Diamondbacks strong start was the play of Gerardo Parra in the first three games of the year going eight for 16 with three doubles, a triple, a home run, and an RBI and even throwing down a critical bunt when the team needed it in the lead-off spot.
“I love G (Gerardo Parra), he’s the best,” Hill stated. “Just seeing him playing every day and seeing him do what do what we all know he can do in the last couple games has been awesome. He’s going to make it tough to keep him out of the lineup. That’s for sure.”
“He’s been unbelievable in how he has been in his role,” Hill added. “He’s very valuable. You’ve got to keep that guy around and at some point you’ve got to play him every day. He changes the game.”
The Diamondbacks now hit the road for their first series away from Arizona this season against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park where they have had some highs and lows over the last couple seasons.
“It is a nice stadium,” mentioned Hill. “I may change my mind when they open the roof on the stadium and it’s 35 degrees…But it’s nice to get going again.”
Wade Miley, Patrick Corbin and Ian Kennedy take the mound as the Diamondbacks looks the win their second series of the season in Milwaukee.
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Jared Cohen
A born and bred Arizonan, Jared has had great passion for the hometown teams all his life. He now channel's that passion into covering the pro, college and high school teams around the state as a Multimedia Reporter for Sports360AZ.