Diamondbacks 0 @ Phillies 10: NLCS Game 2

Series: Philadelphia leads the series 2-0

ALCS: Texas leads Houston 2-0, next game Wednesday October 18 at 5:03pm Arizona Time in Texas

Carroll led the game off with a ground ball that Turner couldn’t handle, so he was safe at first. But Marte struck out swinging in a highly aggressive at bat. Pham was more patient, but also struck out, this time looking. And Walker popped out on a half swing to end the inning. Kelly started strong, but gave up a solo homer (1-0 PHI) to Turner and then walked Harper. Bohm hit a long flyout to center which Thomas was able to track down without incident and Moreno gunned Harper down at second on a steal attempt to end the inning.

The second began with a Moreno liner down the third base line, but Bohm made an excellent (very un-Phillie) play and threw him out at first on a close play. Gurriel did work a long at bat, but he struck out swinging. And Thomas did Thomas things, grounding out to second to end the inning... Kelly was up to the task though, retiring the Phillies in order for the bottom half.

Arizona saw 9 pitches in the third. Nothing came of any of them. Kelly did fairly well for his part, but he left one of Mama Walker’s meatballs in the middle of the plate for Schwarber to feast on. And feast he did, hitting a line-drive home run to right (2-0 PHI).

Marte extended his postseason hitting streak in the fourth, but he was erased on a Pham groundball to third. Bohm made another nice play, but it did not result in a double play! Walker struck out looking a beautiful pitch from Nola, but Moreno singled to get Gurriel an at bat with runners in scoring position (injured Pham, but still!). Sadly he grounded out to SS on the first pitch... Luckily, Kelly continued to pitch well overall, so there was no additional damage done.

The fifth did see the bats start to look alive at least. Thomas worked a nice at bat before Longoria missed a home run by inches. Then Perdomo worked another great at bat but struck out watching another beautiful Nola curveball sweep into the zone... Kelly sent the Phillies down in order on strikeouts for his part.

Marte doubled in the sixth, but Carroll, Pham and Walker couldn’t do anything around it. Sadly the good times for Kelly ended in the sixth as Schwarber hit his second homer of the night (3-0 PHI). He then walked Turner. He did strike Harper out which was nice. Bohm popped out and Mantiply replaced Kelly with two outs in the sixth. He gave up an up the middle single to Stott and then Realmuto doubled in two more runs for the home team (5-0 PHI). After intentionally walking Castellanos, Mantiply gave up another double, this time to Marsh and thankfully Philly runners are slow, so only one run scored (6-0 PHI). Then Rojas grounded out to end the inning, but damage most certainly done.

Former Rockies prospect Jeff Hoffman (received in the Tulowitzki trade) came in for the top of the seventh. He mowed down Moreno with a strike out, got Gurriel to pop out to left and Thomas to strike out as well. Mantiply continued to pitch into the seventh for some reason. After walking Schwarber, Ryne Nelson took over. He got Turner to line out to Perdomo but Harper singled past Marte and Schwarber advanced to third. Bohm hit a double to deep center, scoring both runners (8-0 PHI). Stott then reached on the rare Arizona defensive blunder as Nelson, Moreno and Longoria all watched a pop up land between them. Realmuto then punched a ball past Perdomo, scoring another run (9-0 PHI). Castellanos hit a deep sac fly to give Philly double digits (10-0 PHI). Marsh walked before Cecconi replaced Nelson, putting the Game 4 starter into question. But he blissfully stopped the bleeding at least.

Matt Strahm (pronounced like our pitching coach, but DEFINITELY not related) got the eighth for Philly. He walked Longoria to start. Perdomo struck out but fought a helluva fight. Lawlar then pinch hit for Carroll. He grounded to short, but only Longoria was retired. Marte ended the inning with a pop out though. All sorts of defensive changes that don’t matter. Main takeaway: Lawlar getting some postseason experience. Something named Cave took an at bat and hit nearly hit a triple but got thrown out stretching his easy double into a greedy stat boost. Sosa flew out as well which then prompted a pitching change to Saalfrank who got Harper to line out with a single pitch.

Kerkering closed out the game. He struck Pham out before Walker singled. Montero struck out swinging like a little leaguer. Gurriel then ended it with a looking strike three....

Conclusion

Ooooof. Dah. What a poor showing from the offense and bullpen. Absolutely nothing good came from an Arizona bat. Merrill Kelly was very good with a few home runs beating him. But yikes the bullpen couldn’t buy outs in the sixth or seventh. And late game defense was also an issue... The day off will be very appreciated for these exhausted Arizona heroes, I’m sure.

Comment of the Night

Nothing special here, but I liked this little interaction. Compared to the rest of the passion in the comments, it was pleasant.

Fangraphs

Up Next

After an off day for travel, Arizona and Philadelphia will recommence the NLCS in Phoenix. Chase Field will play host at 2:07pm Arizona Time with Brandon Pfaadt pitching opposite Ranger Suarez for command of the teams’ futures.