Waldschmidt's Walk-Off Blast Stuns LA in the Ninth
Ryan Waldschmidt hit a two-run homer to center — 411 feet — in the bottom of the ninth to lift Arizona over Los Angeles, 4-3. The win probability swung from 22% to 100% on a single swing.
Arizona never led by more than two, and Los Angeles had just taken its first lead of the night heading into the ninth. That's what made Waldschmidt's finish so brutal for the Dodgers. Nolan Arenado got Arizona on the board first, homering to left in the second — 370 feet, a clean solo shot. The Diamondbacks pushed it to 2-0 in the fifth when Geraldo Perdomo tripled to center and Tawa scored. Arizona looked comfortable. Then Los Angeles started chipping.
The Dodgers clawed back in the sixth when Freddie Freeman grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Feduccia to make it 2-1. It wasn't pretty — Freeman went 0-for-4 on the night — but the run counted. Tommy Edman then singled to center in the seventh, scoring Betts and tying the game at 2. The momentum, if you want to call it that, had clearly shifted. Andy Pages made it official in the eighth, launching a 425-foot shot to left center to put Los Angeles ahead 3-2. Pages finished 1-for-3 with a homer and an RBI — the kind of line that looks like a winning performance. It wasn't.
Roki Sasaki gave the Dodgers six solid innings — 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 5 strikeouts — and Edgardo Henriquez followed with a clean inning of his own, striking out two without allowing an earned run. Merrill Kelly worked 5.2 innings for Arizona, scattering 4 walks but limiting the damage to 1 earned run. Kevin Ginkel was immaculate in relief — 1.0 inning, no hits, two strikeouts. But none of that pitching context matters as much as what happened in the ninth. With Arizona's win probability sitting at just 22%, Waldschmidt stepped up and hit a two-run homer to center — Barrosa scored ahead of him — and just like that, the Diamondbacks walked off 4-3. The story of this game is a Dodgers bullpen that held, a lead that felt real, and one swing that erased all of it.