After picking up a massive 6-1 Game 5 win on the road in Arizona, the Phillies traveled back to Philadelphia up in the series 3-2. Game 6 took place Monday afternoon with the starting pitchers for each side being Aaron Nola for the Phillies and Merrill Kelly for the Diamondbacks. Nola started off well as he gave up a hit to catcher Gabriel Moreno but struck out second basemen Ketel Marte, right fielder Corbin Carroll, and first basemen Christian Walker. Then in the Phillies half of the first, they got two runners on with designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and first basemen Bryce Harper getting walked. Kelly bunkered down and got shortstop Trea Turner to fly out deep to left, third basemen Alec Bohm to strike out, and second basement Bryson Stott to pop out to left field.

Unfortunately, all the success Nola experienced in the first inning was washed away by his performance in the second. The Diamondbacks just pounced on Nola, Tommy Pham led off with a solo home run, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr went back-to-back with Pham hitting a solo home run of his own making it a 2-0 game. The Diamondbacks didn’t stop there as Alek Thomas came up next and worked a walk while Evan Longoria followed that up with a double to deep left-center field making it a 3-0 game. Nola was able to stop the bleeding as he got shortstop Geraldo Perdomo to fly out to deep right field moving Longoria to third. Corbin Carroll then followed suit with a groundout to first basemen Bryce Harper making it two outs with a runner on third. Ketel Marte finished out the top of the second hitting a fly out to deep left field leaving the runner stranded on third.

The Phillies answered right back in the bottom of the second with catcher JT Realmuto leading off with a double to deep center field. Right Fielder Nick Castellanos came up next where he struck out. Then Brandon Marsh came up to bat and continued his hot streak in the NLCS by hitting an RBI single to right field allowing JT to score making it 3-1 Diamondbacks. The Phillies still had opportunities to add on as center fielder Johan Rojas moved Marsh to third with a groundout to short. This brought Schwarber up to the plate where he walked and was followed by Trea Turner who struck out leaving runners stranded on first and third.

There wasn’t much offense in next two innings as both Nola and Kelly started to settle in. In the third and fourth innings combined Nola only gave up 1 walk and had zero hits allowed. Kelly gave up 1 hit but zero runs and allowed no walks over the third and fourth innings. The Diamondbacks added on in the top of the fifth with Corbin Carroll hitting a single to center field. Followed by an RBI triple by Ketel Marte making it 4-1 Diamondbacks. Nola was removed following the triple finishing with a line of 4 1/3 IP, allowing 6 hits and 4 runs while walking two and striking out 4. After Nola, Micheal Lorenzen entered the game and pitched quite well going 1 2/3 IP, giving up a hit and a walk but zero runs. The Phillies continued to struggle offensively going down in order in the fifth and only picking up a single by Stott in the sixth. Following the fifth inning Merrill Kelly was pulled. He wasn’t happy either as he was at 90 pitches and was dealing but in the end, it was the correct move. Kelly finished with a line of 5 IP, allowing three hits and one run while walking three and striking out eight.

Ryan Thompson came in to relieve Kelly and had a solid outing going 1 1/3 IP, giving up two hits and no runs. The Diamondbacks added some insurance in the top of the seventh with Geraldo Perdomo hitting a leadoff single to left against Orion Kerkering. Kerkering did get Corbin Carroll to strike out, but it resulted in a stolen base for Perdomo. Ketel Marte then followed with a single of his own that drove Perdomo to make it 5-1 Diamondbacks. Kerkering finished with a line of 1 IP, allowing two hits and a run while striking out one. Kerkering had a rough finish to the postseason, but I believe with some off-season work and improvement he’ll be a part of the Phillies bullpen this upcoming season.

The Phillies’ offense didn’t get any better in the seventh and eighth as they only picked up a single in each inning, one from Brandon Marsh in the seventh, and one from Alec Bohm in the eighth. Andrew Saalfrank came in to close the seventh going 2/3 IP, allowing zeros across the board. Then in the eighth Kevin Ginkel entered going 1 inning, allowing one hit but zero runs. For the Phillies, they went to Craig Kimbrel in the eighth where he went 1 IP, allowing a walk but no runs and got two strikeouts. Finally, to close out the game the Phillies had Gregory Soto pitch the top of the ninth where he pitched an inning, allowing a hit but no runs. Then on the other side, Paul Sewald entered the game and was lights out not giving up a hit or a walk while striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. This win forced a game seven as the series was tied at three apiece.

Now onto Game 7 which occurred Tuesday night. The starting pitcher for the Phillies was Ranger Suárez. While Brandon Pfaadt made the start for the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks got off to a good start in Game 7 scoring a run in the first inning. Ketel Marte led off the game with a strikeout, but Corbin Carroll reached on an infield single to second base. Gabriel Moreno came up third and hit a single of his own putting runners on the corners with one out. Next in line was Christian Walker who reached on a fielder’s choice as the Phillies got the out at second but were unable to turn two allowing Corbin Carroll to score from third making it 1-0 Diamondbacks. Ranger was able to limit the damage as he got the third out by striking out Tommy Pham. The Phillies had no response in the bottom of the first as they went 1-2-3.

In the second it wasn’t smooth sailing for Ranger as he had to work through some more trouble. Suárez gave up a leadoff single to Lourdes Gurriel Jr allowing him to steal second with one out, putting a runner in scoring position. Suárez was able to get out of the jam by getting third basemen Emmanuel Rivera to pop out and Geraldo Perdomo to ground out.

The Phillies finally got a much-needed jolt in the bottom of the second when third basement Alec Bohm hit a leadoff solo home run tying the game. Unfortunately, the Phillies were unable to get anything going the rest of the inning as they went down in order following the Bohm solo shot. In the top of the third, the Diamondbacks kept the pressure on Suárez getting another runner in scoring position, as Corbin Carroll hit a single to left center field and then stole second once he got on with one out. Ranger got out of trouble once again as he got Gabriel Moreno to ground out to short, and Christian Walker to pop out to first. In the bottom of the third left fielder Brandon Marsh tried to get things going with a leadoff single to right field. Johan Rojas followed Marsh with a sacrifice bunt moving Marsh to second. This brought Kyle Schwarber to the plate where he struck out. The inning ended on a ground out to short by Trea Turner.

Ranger finally had a clean 1-2-3 inning in the fourth as get got Pham to strikeout, Gurriel Jr to fly out to right, and Evan Longoria to strikeout. With the heart of their lineup hitting in the bottom of the fourth, the Phillies were able to take advantage and score a second run. Bryce Harper led off with a line out to right field. Alec Bohm walked following Harper which allowed Bryson Stott to hit a two-strike RBI double in the left center field gap giving Bohm enough time to score from first. JT came up next and hit a single moving Stott to third. Nick Castellanos then struck out and Marsh was able to work a walk putting the bases loaded with two outs. Center Fielder Johan Rojas came to the plate with a great opportunity to add runs. Unfortunately, Rojas struck out to end the inning. Nevertheless, the Phillies entered the top of the fifth with a 2-1 lead.

This lead was short-lived as Ranger struggled mightily in the fifth. Emmanuel Rivera led off with a single to center field. Geraldo Perdomo then successfully completed a sacrifice bunt moving Rivera to second. Ketel Marte with one out struck out making it a runner on second with 2 outs. Corbin Carroll made Ranger pay with an RBI single to center field. The bleeding didn’t stop there as Carroll stole second and Moreno singled to right field bringing Carroll in to score and giving the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead. Ranger was removed following the RBI by Carroll, finishing with a line of 4 2/3 IP, allowing six hits and 3 runs while striking out six. Brandon Pfaadt was also removed following four innings of work allowing four hits, two runs, and two walks while striking out seven.

The first reliever out of the bullpen for the Phillies was Jeff Hoffman. He went 1 2/3 IP, giving up two hits but zero runs. On the other side, Joe Mantiply came in to pitch the fifth where he went 2/3 IP allowing one hit but zero runs. That hit was a Kyle Schwarber double to lead off the inning. This was another situation where the Phillies offense continually left runners in scoring position. Schwarber’s double was wasted as Trea Turner grounded out, Bryce Harper flew out to the warning track as he just missed a home run and Bohm closed it out by popping out to second. Neither team did much in the sixth inning as Lourdes Gurriel Jr picked up the lone hit, a single against Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman didn’t let it get to him as he struck out the next batter Evan Longoria to end the top of the third. The Phillies were terrible in their half of the sixth going 1-2-3 against Ryan Thompson.

Then, in the top of the seventh scoring picked back up when José Alvarado entered the game. Alvarado started off good getting Emmanuel Rivera to ground out for the first out of the inning. Sadly, it went all downhill from there as he gave up a single to Geraldo Perdomo, a double to Ketel Marte, and an RBI sacrifice fly to Corbin Carroll bringing in Perdomo to score. Making it 4-2 Diamondbacks. The Phillies blew another opportunity to score in the bottom of the seventh as both Christian Pache and Kyle Schwarber walked with one out. Trea Turner came up next and flew out to center for the second out. Harper followed suit with a fly out of his own to center to end the inning leaving runners stranded on first and second.

Zach Wheeler came in after Alvarado and went 1 2/3 innings allowing only a walk. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks’ bullpen was too good as Ginkel struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth. Finally, to close it out Sewald came in and went 1-2-3 ending the NLCS after 7 games as the Diamondbacks advanced to the World Series.

There are two big factors in my eyes as to why the Phillies blew this series. The first one is going back to Craig Kimbrel in Game 4 up 5-2. If the Phillies don’t blow Game 4, they go up 3-1 in the series and likely advance. The Diamondbacks pulling off an incredible comeback in Game 4 completely changed the complexion of the series. The second factor as to why I believe the Phillies lost this series is their offense was nonexistent in games 3,6 and 7. Across those three games, the Phillies scored a combined four runs. In addition, their big contract guys also didn’t show up, Turner went 3 of 21, Harper went 5 of 23, and Castellanos went 1 of 24. If these players just played slightly better than they did I believe it could have turned the series in the Phillies’ favor just due to how many runners they left in scoring position.

In the end, the Diamondbacks had more timely hits and better overall pitching both key factors in winning playoff teams. After winning the NLCS the Diamondbacks now go back to the World Series for the first time in 22 years.