PHILADELPHIA — Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo stepped up to the microphone Monday afternoon and made a loud proclamation.
“We didn’t come cross-country get our asses kicked,” Lovullo forcefully said. “We came here to play our best baseball game, and our guys will be ready to do.”
Eight hours later, Lovullo was talking about the thrill of playing a Game 7 in the National League Championship Series.
The Diamondbacks silenced the powerful Philadelphia Phillies lineup, winning 5-1, and forcing a Game 7 on Tuesday night in front of a stunned sellout crowd of 45,473 at Citizens Bank Park.
It was the first time the Phillies lost a home game this postseason – after six consecutive victories.
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Now, they’ll be attempting to accomplish a feat that no team has accomplished since the Colorado Rockies in 2007:
Beat the Phillies in two consecutive postseason games at Citizens Bank Park.
“Anything can happen in Game 7″ Lovullo said. “It’s wide open. It’s a crap shoot.”
The Diamondbacks will start rookie Brandon Pfaadt while the Phillies will go with lefty Ranger Suarez. The two matched up in Game 3 where both were exceptional, with Pfaadt pitching 5 ⅔ shutout innings and Suarez 5 ⅓ shutout innings, with the D-backs winning, 2-1, on Ketel Marte’s walk-off single.
“Can’t really reveal my whole game plan, that’s kind of a secret,’’ Pfaadt said, “but we’re just going to keep attacking them, keep being aggressive, and be cautious of the home run hitters….
“I’m going to give it my all, give it all to the team. and try to come out with a win.’’
Merrill Kelly, the D-backs starting pitcher in their 10-0 loss in Game 2, was the one who made Game 7 possible. He pitched five brilliant innings on Monday, giving up just three hits while striking out eight.
The biggest drama of the night was when he entered the dugout after retiring eight consecutive batters and was told by Lovullo that he was done for the night. Kelly was furious. He argued valiantly to stay in, but Lovullo already made his mind up, not wanting Kelly to face the Phillies’ lineup a third time.
Lovullo turned to his bullpen for the final 12 outs, and the bullpen picked up where Kelly left out, closing the door.
“What’s great is I leave somebody in, and he gets hit, and they’re like, ‘Why are you leaving him in?’ I take somebody out before he gets hit, and they say, you’re crazy for taking him out,” Lovullo said. “So this is the balance that I am trying to strike perfectly by staying ahead of it and having a good instinct for when, why, and how I’m doing something.”
While Lovullo stuck to his pitching plan, he made sure the D-backs were much more aggressive offensively. The D-backs, who stole just one base in the first five games, stole four bases in this game, dropping two bunts down in the ninth inning, and resembling the team that stole 166 bases during the regular season.
Now, here they are, just one victory away from their first World Series since 2001.
“I felt like a lot of the outside perspective was like, ‘Hey, this series is over,’” All-Star outfielder Corbin Carroll said. “But my feeling from everyone in here is that the confidence never wavered. There’s just a feeling that we belong. And no matter the circumstance, no matter the score, no matter the situation, there’s a lot of confidence in ourselves and in our teammates to get the job done.”
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Here’s how Game 6 unfolded on Monday:
Ketel Marte delivers another RBI to put Arizona up 5-1
Two innings after his RBI triple, Ketel Marte drove in a run with a single in the top of the seventh, adding another insurance run for the Diamondbacks against Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering.
Diamondbacks lead 4-1 through six
Merrill Kelly struck out eight in five innings, giving up three hits and an earned run before giving way to Ryan Thompson to start the sixth. The Arizona reliever worked about a Bryson Stott single to get Game 6 into the final third with Arizona holding a 4-1 lead.
Diamondbacks get another run on Ketel Marte triple
Ketel Marte’s one-out triple in the top of the fifth scored Corbin Carroll, extending Arizona’s lead to 4-1 and knocking Phillies starter Aaron Nola out of the game.
With runners on second and third, Michael Lorenzen struck out Tommy Pham to avoid further damage.
Phillies pull one back on Brandon Marsh RBI single
After falling behind 3-0, J.T. Realmuto led off the bottom of the second with a double and was driven in by Brandon Marsh two batters later to cut the Phillies’ deficit to 3-1.
Kyle Schwarber walked with two outs but Merrill Kelly struck out Trea Turner to end the inning, stranding runners on first and third.
Tommy Pham, Lourdes Gurriel go back-to-back in big second
Tommy Pham led off the top of the second with a solo homer to left to open the scoring in Game 6, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. immediately followed with a home run of his own to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead against Aaron Nola.
Nola hadn’t given up a homer in his first three starts of the postseason, going 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA – including six shutout innings in Game 2 of the NLCS.
Alek Thomas drew a walk and came around to score on Evan Longoria’s RBI double to make it 3-0, but Arizona couldn’t bring him in from second with nobody out
Aaron Nola strikes out three D-backs in first inning
Phillies starter Aaron Nola continued his postseason brilliance, striking out Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Christian Walker in the top of the first at Citiznes Bank, admittedly giving up a two-out single to Gabriel Moreno.
Phillies, Diamondbacks lineups, probable pitchers for NLCS Game 6
Arizona Diamondbacks
Starting pitcher: RHP Merrill Kelly
- Corbin Carroll (L) RF
- Ketel Marte (S) 2B
- Gabriel Moreno (R) C
- Christian Walker (R) 1B
- Tommy Pham (R) DH
- Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (R) LF
- Alek Thomas (L) CF
- Evan Longoria (R) 3B
- Geraldo Perdomo (S) SS
Philadelphia Phillies
Starting pitcher: RHP Aaron Nola
- Kyle Schwarber (L) DH
- Trea Turner (R) SS
- Bryce Harper (L) 1B
- Alec Bohm (R) 3B
- Bryson Stott (L) 2B
- J.T. Realmuto (R) C
- Nick Castellanos (R) RF
- Brandon Marsh (L) LF
- Johan Rojas (R) CF
How double-steal helped Phillies get their swagger back
PHOENIX — J.T. Realmuto, at the plate, watched Bryson Stott take off from first base trying to steal second, quickly turned to his left, and saw Bryce Harper charging towards the plate.
The Phillies were attempting a rare double steal.
“From the start of the playoffs, sort of the message to everybody was, ‘Let’s put pressure on people,'” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “That doesn’t mean the double steals. It also means getting down the line, putting pressure on people with ground balls, putting pressure on the outfield … forcing them to maybe make some mistakes.’’
The execution was perfect. Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno got the pitch from Zac Gallen, stood up and fired to second base, but Stott stopped. D-backs second baseman Ketel Marte grabbed the ball and fired home, but it bounced in front of Moreno. Harper crashed into Moreno’s left shoulder, and scored.
And just like that, the Phillies had their first steal of home in a postseason game in franchise history.
“We’re going to be aggressive right here,’’ said Harper, who would later hit a 441-foot homer in the sixth inning. “Bryson had the green light. He went, and i just tried to make the best decision to get there and make it happen to score that run…
“You know, baseball play. Big collision at the plate. But just a good position to put us in.’’
It was just what the Phillies needed after watching their bullpen blow the last two games. They have their swagger back just in time for a trip to Citizens Bank Park where they have the biggest home-field advantage in baseball.
“It was a risky play because they have a really good catcher and really good infielders that make that play probably seven out of 10 times at least,’’ Realmuto said. “We just got lucky they didn’t make a good throw back to the plate.
