Arguably the most intriguing matchup of the postseason thus far began with a bang, as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Monday night. Veteran closer Craig Kimbrel nabbed his 10th career postseason save, continuing his bounce-back year with Philly. As the Phillies look to head straight back to the World Series, this win in Citizens Bank Park will be a game they glance back on as they set the tone in the NLCS.
W: Zack Wheeler (2-0) L: Zac Gallen (2-1) SV: Craig Kimbrel
Zack Wheeler, Phillies:
Zack Wheeler continued to build off of his dominant postseason performance thus far, as he went 6 innings with 8 punchouts. In fact, the Diamondbacks’ lineup began 1-16 against Wheeler in his first 5 innings, with the only hit being a Corbin Carroll single to lead off the game. While Wheeler was cruising along for those first 5 frames, he ran into a jam in the 6th inning. The sixth inning led off with a single from 3-time All Star Evan Longoria. The very next batter, Geraldo Perdomo, crushed a 94 MPH fastball from Wheeler to deep right field for a 345 FT dinger. Wheeler stated prior to the game that his goal is to go 7 innings in every one of his starts. While he didn’t reach that mark in Game 1, the quality of his innings certainly outweighed the quantity of his innings.
Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks:
This was a start to forget for Zac Gallen, as his start against the Phillies wasn’t as he expected. During the regular season, Gallen was tied for 13th in the MLB in HR/9. However, he gave up 3 taters in his 5 innings of work. The Phillies were all over Gallen, with the Phillies scoring at least one run in 4 of Gallen’s 5 frames. What’s very interesting is that Zac Gallen’s four-seam fastball had a Run Value of 27 (considered the second-most effective fastball in Major League Baseball), but all of the home runs came on Gallen’s extremely effective fastball. The Diamondbacks will rely on Gallen due to the question marks in Arizona’s starting rotation.
Offensive Breakdown, Phillies:
The Philadelphia Phillies’ quartet of Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Nicholas Castellanos had a very productive night, with the foursome going a combined 6/15 (.400) and 3 dingers. 7 out of the 9 batters in the Phillies’ starting lineup had at least one hit, including catcher J.T. Realmuto, who also had an RBI. The Phillies’ offensive attack didn’t allow Zac Gallen to settle in, as Kyle Schwarber hit a dinger with a 117.1 (!!!) exit velocity in the bottom of the first inning. This home run allowed Philadelphia to take the early lead in a tone-setting contest. A batter after Schwarber, superstar Bryce Harper came to the dish. Harper was served up a 93 MPH fastball from Gallen, to which Harper sent a ball 420 feet to centre field to extend the Phillies’ lead to 2-0. Fast forward to the second inning, where Nicholas Castellanos took a four-seam fastball from Gallen and crushed an oppo-taco to deep right field. Castellanos’ son, Liam, got extremely pumped up after seeing his father make it a 3-0 game. The Phillies added on a few more runs in the third and fifth innings through two RBI singles by J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper. Despite the offence going stale in the late innings, Philadelphia did enough damage early on to hang onto the victory.
Offensive Breakdown, Diamondbacks:
Arizona has been a team that has heavily relied on the home run thus far in the postseason, and the long ball is a main reason why the Diamondbacks have made it to the NLCS. However, Zack Wheeler has been elite in limiting the opposing teams’ abilities to hit homers. Prior to Game 1, Wheeler had a HR/9 of 0.7 in 13 innings in the postseason thus far. The Diamondbacks’ lack of discipline is a main reason why they’re offensive attack couldn’t get anything going against Wheeler in the first 5 innings. Arizona was able to tally a few runs through a 2-run shot by Geraldo Perdomo in the 6th and a sacrifice fly by Alek Thomas in the 7th. However, Arizona’s offence got started a little too late and fell short of completing the comeback.
Top Performers, Phillies:
Kyle Schwarber (DH) – 1-4, Run, HR, RBI
Trea Turner (SS) – 2-4, Run
Bryce Harper (1B) – 2-3, 2 Runs, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Nicholas Castellanos (RF) – 1-4, Run, HR, RBI
Zack Wheeler (SP) – 6.0 IP, 3 Hits, 2 ER, 8 K’s
Top Performers, Diamondbacks:
Alek Thomas (CF) – 0-2, RBI
Evan Longoria (3B) – 1-2, Run
Geraldo Perdomo (SS) – 1-3, Run, HR, 2 RBI
Kyle Nelson (RP) – 1.1 IP, Hit
Game 2 of this evenly-matched NLCS goes on Tuesday, October 17, at 8:07 PM EST in Citizens Bank Park. Diamondbacks’ SP2 Merrill Kelly will get the ball to try and slow down the Phillies’ explosive offence, while veteran Aaron Nola takes the mound for Philadelphia. Kelly will need to bring his A-game as the Diamondbacks look to even up this NLCS at 1 game a piece.
(Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)