PHOENIX − While Eugenio Suarez sat behind the dais and reveled in his historic evening Saturday, his manager sat alone in his office stewing about the game’s outcome.
It was that kind of night with Suarez becoming the 19th player in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in a game … and the Arizona Diamondbacks becoming the second team since 1900 to have a player hit four homers and still lose, 8-7 to Atlanta in 10 innings in front of 43,043 fans at Chase Field.
“What a game, what a spectacular game …’’ Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It was one of those magical nights. It’s hard to describe. Not a lot of people have done it. Not a lot of people have done it, you can go all of the way back to Little League.’’
Well, Suarez, 33, can go back to high school, little league and T-ball growing up in Venezuela, and never, ever, did he hit four home runs in a game.
“This is special, I want to glorify God with this game today,’’ said Suarez, who twice has hit three homers in a game. “It’s a gift. I don’t take it for granted. I feel so good for myself. I never thought this would happen.
“I always say that God, has my back. Everything that I do, I do for him. And he took care of me tonight.’’
Suarez, who entered the game hitting .167, began in the second inning by hitting a 418-foot homer into the left-center field seats off Atlanta starter Grant Holmes on a 93.8-mph fastball.
He faced him again in the fourth inning, and hit one nearly in the same location, 411 feet into left-center on a 94.6-mph fastball.
Holmes tried to fool him with an 84.5-mph slider in the sixth inning, but this one went even further, 443 feet into center field.
Suarez didn’t think he’d even have another plate appearance, but with the D-backs suddenly down 7-6 in the ninth inning after their bullpen blew a 6-4 lead, he stepped to the plate with the crowd on their feet hoping to see history.
Considering this magical night, and with Suarez’s confidence brimming, did Lovullo feel he was about to witness history, too, with a fourth homer?
“No, I didn’t,’’ Lovullo said. “I thought there’s no way he’s going to be going deep. When does that happen? It’s like a fairytale.’’
Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias started him with a changeup for Strike 1. He threw a slider for Ball 1. He came back with a fastball that Suarez swung though. Now, with a 1-2 count, Iglesias suddenly lost command, throwing a sinker and a slider that weren’t even close to the plate. Igelsias had no choice on a 3-2 pitch but to throw a strike, and fired his best fastball of the night.
Suarez swung at the 97.2-mph pitch, and sent it 383 feet away into the left-field seats, tying the game, and sending the fans into hysteria as he danced around the bases, pointing his fingers to the heavens.
“It’s tough against Iglesias because for me he’s one of the best relievers in the league,’’ Suarez said. “I never thought that I was going to hit a homer against him, but I did it.’’
Said Lovullo: “I kept shaking my head. I couldn’t believe it. … It’s pretty remarkable. So no, I was not thinking he was going to hit a fourth home run. I was kind of begging that he would, and when it left his bat, the dugout erupted.’’
Suarez became only the third player in history to homer in his first four plate appearance in a game, joining Carlos Delgado and Mike Cameron.
It was also the first four-homer game since former Diamondbacks slugger J.D. Martinez accomplished the feat Sept. 4, 2017, which was just three months after Scooter Gennett hit four homers for the Cincinnati Reds.
In that Reds game, the cleanup hitter happened to be Suarez, who watched his teammate go 5-for-5 with four homers and 10 RBI after having hit only three homers all season.
“At some point in the dugout,’’ Suarez said, “that came to my mind. I was there and that was awesome to see Scooter hit four homers for us in Cincinnati. I always think about how it’s got to feel really good to hit four home runs in a game.
“And today, that dream came true.’’
The only trouble was that the Cinderella slipper was shattered when the Diamondbacks managed to lose the game, joining Atlanta in 1986 in infamy when Bob Horner hit four homers in an 11-8 loss to the Montreal Expos.
“I mean that’s unbelievable what the guy did,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “To hit four homers, my God. And he was all over all of them, too. You just kind of feel like after a couple, it’s like, well, he’s due to make an out. I mean, hats off to him, man. He didn’t miss them.
“We’re just lucky that we were able to overcome that great performance that he had.”
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