The Arizona Diamondbacks keep fighting to keep their season alive, and Tuesday night's 7-2 win over the NL West champion San Francisco Giants was proof of the D-backs refusal to give in.
Of course, with the St. Louis Cardinals' win over Houston, any combination of three Cardinals wins or Diamondbacks losses means Arizona's hopes of capturing the second NL wild card spot are dashed, and it's time to look ahead to 2013. But the D-backs didn't lose ground to the Cardinals Tuesday, thanks to a towering three-run home run by Paul Goldschmidt off one of his favorite pitchers to face, TIm Lincecum.
Goldschmidt went deep off the left field foul pole in the third inning, and also hit a pair of sacrifice flies in accounting for five D-backs runs but only officially going 1-for-2. Goldschmidt is 8 for 15 with five home runs and 11 RBI in 2011 and 2012 against Lincecum.
On a chilly autumn night by the Bay, Aaron Hill had three hits, and a pair of Giants wild pitches allowed two more Arizona runs to score. Josh Collmenter (5-3) started for the Diamondbacks and held the Giants to a run on two hits with four strikeouts over five innings.
Arizona has won four of their last five games and improved to 78-76 with eight games left in the season, including six at home starting Friday. Wade Miley (16-10) takes the mound hoping to keep the D-backs alive for another day Wednesday night at AT& Park.
For more on the Arizona Diamondbacks, go to AZ Snake Pit. Everything San Francisco Giants can be found at McCovey Chronicles and SB Nation Bay Area. If that's not enough baseball, head over to Baseball Nation to get your fix.