Ildemaro Vargas doubles and triples in win over Reds

Marte served as a DH in his first two games back and then didn’t play Wednesday. With Marte at second, Ildemaro Vargas is on the bench Friday for the first time since Aug. 16, which was the last time Marte played second base prior to his stints on the restricted and injured lists.

Vargas’ home run was his eighth of the season. He hit a three-run shot off Braves reliever Danny Young in the ninth inning. Vargas was hitting .404 on the season after a four-hit game on May 1 against the Cubs, but is 55-for-255 (.215) with two home runs, 38 RBI, 28 runs scored and three stolen bases in 84 games since. It turns out that spending a significant amount of FAAB on Vargas, a 35-year-old journeyman, early in the season was a complete waste. He’s hitting .266 with a .720 OPS and 59 RBI on the year.

There was some optimism that Perdomo would be able to give it a go after making an early exit from Monday’s series opener with left knee soreness. The 26-year-old receives some additional time off to rest and recover with veteran Ildemaro Vargas taking over at shortstop with recently acquired Lars Nootbaar moving up to the leadoff spot in his absence. Perdomo appears likely to avoid the injured list and remains day-to-day for now.

Perdomo was replaced by Ildemaro Vargas at shortstop in the fifth inning after going 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. It sounds like a precautionary exit, but he’s likely headed for further evaluation to determine the severity of the issue. There should be additional clarity on his status leading into Tuesday’s contest.

The triple in the ninth would have been a homer in 26 ballparks, according to Statcast. However, it also might well have been caught had the Padres been playing Fernando Tatis Jr. in right field; Jase Bowen came up just a tad short of making the jumping catch at the wall. It’s Vargas’s fifth career four-RBI game. The first came in 2017 (actually, in his first career start), but the last three have all taken place in 2026. His 55 RBI are 24 more than his previous career high from 2022. He’s also now played in five more games and taken 51 more plate appearances than ever before.

Marte takes a seat with Ildemaro Vargas covering second base. Nolan Arenado is also getting a breather with Tim Tawa at the hot corner. The 32-year-old has hit a rough patch recently, hitting .200 (14-for-70) with two homers and eight RBI in 17 games since last month’s All-Star break.

Arenado will get a breather after starting each of the first six games for the Diamondback out of the break. He’s hitting .245/.323/.430 this year and .259/.348/.586 in 16 games in July. Ildemaro Vargas is starting at third base.

Vargas doubled and scored in the fifth. In the sixth, he hit what should have been another double on a drive into the right field corner, but either because he thought it was a homer or that it was going foul, he didn’t run out of the box and then was thrown out at first base after a wide turn towards second. It still drove in the go-ahead run in what had been a 3-3 tie, and it gave him just his second multihit game since May 19.

Vargas is still playing a fair amount despite having gone 13-for-99 in his last 37 games. Part of it is likely that he has timed his hits well; he’s driven in 15 runs despite recording just 17 total bases on those nine singles and four doubles. He’s still second on the D-backs with 46 RBI, even though he’s down to .261/.305/.402 following his scorching start.

Kepler started the first two games after being activated from the restricted list, but he’ll take a seat against Rays’ right-hander Drew Rasmussen on Sunday. The 33-year-old is hitless in his first five at-bats for the Diamondbacks with one strikeout. Ketel Marte will function as the team’s designated hitter on Sunday with Ildemaro Vargas drawing a start at second base and batting eighth.