The Arizona Diamondbacks remain half a game back in the National League Wild Card race, but they defeated the Texas Rangers with ease, 9-1.

The series opener went Arizona's way thanks to a relatively strong performance from Merrill Kelly, and then the bullpen was nearly perfect the rest of the way.

Kelly failed to earn the win as he only went 4.1 innings, but none of the scoring started until the fifth inning anyway.

Shockingly, it was the Rangers who scored the first run before the D-backs scored nine unanswered.

All nine of those runs came in the fifth and sixth innings, so it was a mid-game barrage from Arizona as they put up four in the fifth and then five in the sixth.

Kevin Ginkel is now 6-4 this season, and he picked up the win here despite only recording two outs.

No matter what anyone says about the wild Ketel Marte incident from a few weeks back, there's no denying this team is better when he's in the lineup.

The 32-year-old went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs in the D-backs' eight-run victory.

Now 79-69, the Diamondbacks know there's still a ton of work to do, but offensively, they looked tremendous in game one of three against a team that's also fighting for the final Wild Card spot in the American League.

Corbin Carroll had been out of the lineup for a few days, but positive results from an MRI had him back in the lineup for the first time since Monday, Sept. 7.

It wasn't the longest absence in the world, far from it, but the 26-year-old was dearly missed and proved that by hitting a two-out, two-run homer in the sixth inning.

Carroll's 20th homer of the year also came in the same game where Nolan Arenado also went yard. It marks Arenado's 24th of the year, and both of these home runs came with two outs in the sixth inning.

Arizona drew five walks in this game and only struck out three times. Both of their homers came off Adam Macko, though it was the left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore who took the loss.

Gore fell to 8-11 on the year after he allowed four earned runs to score on five hits in just four innings. He allowed three of the team's five walks, and that was highlighted by him throwing just nine first-pitch strikes against the 20 batters he faced.