'A big-moment player': Marte's walk-off HR caps dramatic D-backs rally

PHOENIX -- It took Ketel Marte over 11 years in the big leagues before he hit his first career walk-off homer, and just a little more than two weeks to hit his second.

Marte helped the Diamondbacks salvage a split of their four-game set against the Dodgers with a one-out, ninth inning homer that led to a 3-2 walk-off win at Chase Field on Thursday.

Marte's first walk-off homer came on May 19 against the Giants when he hit a three-run homer off left-hander Matt Gage. At the time, Marte joked that it was the first walk-off homer of his life outside of a softball game in his native Dominican Republic.

On Thursday, one inning after the Diamondbacks rallied for a pair of runs to tie the game, the switch-hitting Marte once again faced a left-hander -- this time, Dodgers closer Tanner Scott -- and smacked a first-pitch fastball over the wall in left.

"It was very special," Marte said of the homer. "Like you mentioned, now I have two, and since it was against the Dodgers, it was big for me."

Said Arizona manager Torey Lovullo, "Ketel Marte is an amazing baseball player and the best players do the best things at the most critical times, and he basically stepped up there and won us a baseball game. And it was a great moment for him, a great moment for this team."

The homer came after Lovullo gave Marte an off-day on Wednesday night because the second baseman said he needed it due to fatigue. When Marte gets fatigued, his hamstrings and back tighten up, and it has been Lovullo's experience that if he pushes him to play, he risks injury.

"I want everybody to understand that we’re all human and we all need a day here or there," Marte said. "Everybody needs those off-days. When I’m off, by the time the seventh inning comes around, I’m preparing and warming up in case Torey needs me."

The Diamondbacks didn't need Marte on Wednesday, when they were shut down completely, 7-0, as Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani was dominant on the mound.

Arizona's offense again had trouble getting going on Thursday, with the Dodgers building a 2-0 lead through seven innings.

Corbin Carroll jump-started things in the eighth with a leadoff homer to right off Will Klein, and the Diamondbacks would add another run in the frame on an RBI single by Geraldo Perdomo to tie the game.

"I felt like the frustration was building," Lovullo said. "We were hitting some balls hard, we were building innings, we just couldn’t get over the edge of it. But I think when Corbin hit that solo home run, we got back into it immediately. The clutch, two-out hit by Perdomo was fantastic."

All of it set the stage for Marte to once again play the role of hero in the ninth. It was his third walk-off hit of the year, a total that leads the Majors.

"We got our guy up there in the right spot," starter Ryne Nelson said. "And he did what he tends to do. He's a big-moment player.”