Diamondbacks Offense Erupts To Even World Series At One A Piece
Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos
Both the hitting and pitching were rolling for the Arizona Diamondbacks as they took a demanding 9-1 win over the Texas Rangers in Game 2 of the World Series. The series is now tied 1-1. With the split over in Texas, the series shifts over to Arizona where the next three games will be played, giving the Diamondbacks the home field advantage.
The game was scoreless heading into the fourth inning where the Diamondbacks took the lead with a Gabriel Moreno solo home run 413 feet to left center field. After a Christian Walker groundout, Tommy Pham would hit a double to right field. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would hit a single that would drive in Pham for the second run of the inning. The Rangers would gain a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Mitch Garver hit a solo shot to left field.
That would be the only run the Rangers especially with the outing Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly had. Kelly went 7 innings giving up the one solo shot to Garver, 3 hits total and striking out 9. Important to note, is how Kelly locked down the top four guys of the Rangers lineup. Kelly faced Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Evan Carter and Adolis Garcia three times each, and altogether they went 1-12, with the one hit being a Carter single in the fourth inning. The top four struck out 6 times against Kelly. This is key, especially how all four contributed in the Rangers’ Game 1 victory. In Game 1 they accounted for 5 of the Rangers’ 6 runs.
Kelly was one of three pitchers that the Diamondbacks used in tonight’s victory. Andrew Saalfrank came in after Kelly to pitch the eighth inning. He would get Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Jung and Leody Taveras to all ground out in 12 pitches. Saalfrank would come back to pitch in the ninth where Semien would get a single, but he would get Seager to lineout to center field for the first out. Luis Frias would come in and get the final two outs of the game without giving up a hit.
The Diamondbacks would get another two runs in the seventh inning, with Evan Longoria driving in Alek Thomas with a single and Corbin Carroll scoring Longoria with another single. The eighth inning saw another three runs come in for the Diamondbacks with a two run single by Ketel Marte, which extends his Postseason hit streak to a now record 18 games.
Carroll would follow that up with a single of his own on the very next pitch to make the score 7-1. The final two runs would come off the bat of Emmanuel Rivera in the ninth, as he hit a single to score Jace Peterson and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
The Diamondbacks had 16 total hits, the most coming from Tommy Pham, who went 4-4 on the night. Carroll, Gurriel Jr. and Thomas would join Pham with multi-hit games tonight.
Tomorrow is an off day as the teams will be traveling to Arizona for Game 3 which will be played on Monday. Brandon Pfaadt will be taking the mound for the Diamondbacks, while Max Scherzer will take it for the Rangers. First pitch is scheduled for 8:03 PM ET or 5:03 PM PT.
