The Phillies Blow Back to Back Games as the NLCS is Now Even 2-2
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The Philadelphia Phillies came into Arizona red hot after taking the first two games at home and winning game two by a score of 10-0. Unfortunately, their team’s success at the plate came to a grinding halt in game 3 against Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt. Pfaadt a pitcher the Phillies had yet to face, completely shut down their lineup as he pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and zero runs while striking out nine. On the other side, the Phillies had starting pitcher Ranger Suárez who pitched one heck of a game himself going 5 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and a walk, while striking out seven.
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The first run of the game wasn’t scored until the top of the seventh when Bryce Harper scored on a passed ball with two outs. Giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. That lead didn’t last as the Phillies used Orion Kerkering in the bottom of the seventh where he struggled. Kerkering got no outs and allowed three hits and one run. With runners on first and third and nobody out Rob Thompson went to his best reliever in José Alvarado and he came through in a huge way getting Emmanuel Rivera to ground into a double play, followed by a ground out by Geraldo Perdomo getting out of the jam and keeping the game tied at 1-1. The Phillies did nothing offensively in the top half of the eighth. So, with the game still tied, Alvarado went out to pitch the eighth as well. He gave up a double with two outs but got out of it keeping the score tied.
Finally, after a zero run top of the ninth by the Phillies. Craig Kimbrel entered the game hoping to push it to extra innings. Unfortunately, the high-wire act Kimbrel’s been getting away with for the past three weeks finally caught up to him. He walked the leadoff hitter, Lourdes Gurriel Jr who immediately stole second because Kimbrel can’t hold runners on. Then Pavin Smith singled putting runners on first and third. Following the first two batters, Kimbrel got Emmanuel Rivera to ground into a fielder’s choice getting the runner out at home. Then with one out Geraldo Perdomo came to the plate and was walked making the bases loaded. Finally, Ketel Marte came to the plate who had been red hot all series hit a walk-off single to center field giving the Diamondbacks a 2-1 win.
Now onto game four where the Diamondbacks carried their momentum over into some early runs against Phillies starting pitcher Christopher Sánchez. The scoring started in the bottom of the second after two mistakes by the Phillies. The first was that Christian Walker reached on an error from Alec Bohm. Then with one out Sánchez got a ball that was hit right to him and instead of turning two, he threw it to first only getting one out. This gave Emmanuel Rivera an opportunity to give the Diamondbacks an early lead as he hit a single to center field bringing in Christian Walker making it a 1-0 game. The runs didn’t stop there as Sánchez struggled again in the third as Ketel Marte led off with a single and eventually got to third after a wild pitch and a ground out. With another run on third Phillies Manager Rob Thompson went to the bullpen to bring in Jeff Hoffman who gave up a single to right field allowing Ketel Marte to score making it 2-0 Diamondbacks. The Phillies did respond with a big-time solo home run by designated hitter Kyle Schwarber in the top of the fourth making it 2-1. Then following a shutdown inning by Hoffman in the bottom of the fourth, the Phillies evened the game up with a clutch two-out RBI double by left fielder Brandon Marsh bringing in catcher JT Realmuto to score.
With this game knotted up at two, the Phillies brought Matt Strahm into the game where he pitched a clean 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth. The Phillies followed that up with three walks to start the top of the sixth against Diamondbacks reliever Andrew Saalfrank. With the bases loaded and no out Alec Bohm who’s been ice-cold all playoffs came through with an infield single to third which resulted in an error on the throw home which allowed both Schwarber and Turner to score. Giving the Phillies a 4-2 lead. In the bottom of the sixth Seranthony Domínguez entered the game giving up a hit and a walk but got out of the jam by striking out two and getting Evan Longoria to fly out. The Phillies added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as center fielder Johan Rojas hit a triple to deep right field where shortstop Trea Turner came up two batters later hitting a sacrifice fly to left field allowing Rojas to score giving the Phillies a 5-2 lead.
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The game flipped starting in the bottom of the seventh. Orion Kerkering was brought in after struggling mightily in game 3 and it was much of the same in game 4. He was put into a tough spot immediately as he inherited two runners that Gregory Soto left on. Soto started off strong getting Emmanuel Rivera to pop out, but Geraldo Perdomo followed that with a single and then a walk by Ketel Marte put runners on first and second with one out. Kerkering then entered the game to face Gabriel Moreno where he was walked putting the bases loaded. Christian Walker then came to the plate and was walked bringing in a run for the Diamondbacks making it a 5-3 game. Kerkering did escape only giving up one run after getting Pavin Smith to ground out.
Finally in the bottom of the eighth the Phillies only had two relievers left and elected to go back to Craig Kimbrel and leave José Alvarado to pitch the ninth. This was the wrong decision as Kimbrel pitched worse in game 4 than he did in game 3. Lourdes Gurriel Jr led off with a double followed by a lineout by Evan Longoria. Bring pinch hitter Alek Thomas to the plate where he homered to center field tying the game 5-5. Kimbrel continued to snowball after picking up the second out of the inning by striking out Geraldo Perdomo. With two outs Kimbrel gave up a single to Kentel Marte and hit Corbin Carrol forcing Rob Thompson’s hand to bring in José Alvarado. Alvarado faced Gabriel Moreno first where he allowed a single to center field bringing Marte into score and giving the Diamondbacks a 6-5 lead. To close it out for the Diamondbacks, closer Paul Sewald struck out the first two batters in Marsh and Cave but did give up a double to right field to Kyle Schwarber. Sewald did not let it affect him as he got Trea Turner to strike out after Schwarber’s double. Evening up the series at two apiece.
The Phillies will need their ace Zach Wheeler in the biggest way for game 5. With the Phillies heavily taxing their bullpen the past two days, Wheeler will need to go deep into this game. In addition, the Phillies will need to jump on Zac Gallen as they did in game 1, this will allow the Phillies to be a little more relaxed compared to being tense most of games 3 and 4. Lastly, even with games six and seven in Philadelphia, game five is what likely decides this series. If the Phillies head back home down 3-2 after going up 2-0 they will be in a really tough spot to advance back to the World Series for the second consecutive year. If the Phillies are unable to advance it would be a massive disappointment and viewed as a huge opportunity missed.
