KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Nine innings produced nothing. The 10th produced almost everything.
Pinch-hitter Lars Nootbaar lifted a sacrifice fly to center that scored automatic runner Corbin Carroll and broke a scoreless tie, and the Arizona Diamondbacks poured across four more runs before hanging on for a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday.
The Associated Press led with Nootbaar's fly; ESPN's box credits him with the RBI on a pinch appearance that showed no official at-bat.
Zeroes, then a flood
Neither starter factored. Derek Law opened with two scoreless innings for Arizona; Noah Cameron answered with six scoreless frames for Kansas City - three hits, two walks, seven strikeouts on 99 pitches, a game score of 71 per ESPN. Jose Cabrera, Taylor Clarke, and Brandyn Garcia kept the Royals off the board into the late innings.
Nate Pearson and Steven Cruz kept Arizona quiet into the ninth. It took until the fifth for either club to put a runner on third, the AP noted, and Bobby Witt Jr. flied out with the bases loaded that inning after John Rave doubled and Matthew Lugo singled.
Craig Kimbrel (1-4) inherited the 10th. Ildemaro Vargas bunted Carroll to third, Nootbaar's fly made it 1-0, and with two outs Geraldo Perdomo singled to right. ESPN's play log has Vargas and Ryan Waldschmidt scoring on the play with a fielding error by right fielder John Rave; ESPN's batting line credits Perdomo with one RBI.
Ketel Marte was intentionally walked in the middle of the burst, then Gabriel Moreno and Nolan Arenado followed with RBI singles, and Arizona led 5-0.
Perez's answer, Santana's finish
Kansas City was not done. Carter Jensen doubled home a run, and Salvador Perez cleared the bases with a double that pulled the Royals within 5-4 with the tying run at third and nobody out. Gerardo Carrillo had allowed the four-run reply after Justin Martinez (2-0) worked a scoreless ninth for the win.
