MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-20
9. Nick Ahmed, 46 percent
In a home-run fest between the Diamondbacks and Giants at Chase Field in Phoenix, Nick Ahmed’s long ball proved to be the most pivotal, although not the most decisive, moment.
The game, emblematic of this home-run dominated season, featured a dozen shots, four of them coming in extra innings. It also featured a game-tying five-run Diamondback comeback in the bottom of the eighth inning powered by three of those homers, one each off the bats of Eduardo Escobar, Wilmer Flores and Adam Jones.
Jones’ blast sent the game into a scoreless ninth. In the top of the 10th, however, Kevin Pillar homered with Scooter Gennett on base to give San Francisco a 9-7 advantage. Even after Flores opened the bottom of the 10th with another home run of his own, Arizona’s chances of winning still registered only 12 percent when Ahmed faced Will Smith one out later.
Ahmed evened those odds with a game-tying blast down the left-field line.
In the end, Ahmed’s heroics went for naught. In the top of the 11th, Mike Yastrzemski hit the game’s 12th home run, throwing the Giants back on top 10-9. This time they kept the ball in the park through the inning’s bottom half to win.