It was a wild ride in postseason baseball on Friday. Jose Altuve’s heroics in Game 5 of the ALCS, followed up with an intense Game 4 of the NLCS. Arizona rallied from a 3 run deficit during the 7th and 8th innings. The Diamondbacks’ timely hitting led Arizona to a 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Arizona looks to extend its mini-win-streak to 3 games in Game 5 on Saturday night.
W: Kevin Ginkel (1-0) L: Craig Kimbrel (0-2) SV: Paul Sewald (5)
Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies:
Cristopher Sanchez made his first career postseason start Friday night. However, his outing in Game 4 was his first start in nearly a month, so it was obvious that “rust” would be an issue for Sanchez. The southpaw hurled 2.1 innings, yielding 2 runs on 2 hits (only 1 earned) with a strikeout and a walk.
Sanchez had a rather clean beginning to his outing. The lefty retired Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll, and Gabriel Moreno by inducing relatively weak contact in the first inning. In the bottom of the 2nd, Sanchez ran into some trouble. To lead off the inning, Christian Walker reached on a throwing error by Alec Bohm. Sanchez retired the next two batters, but Arizona was able to get a run across through an Emmanuel Rivera RBI single. The rookie pitcher walked a batter in the third inning, and then retired Corbin Carroll again through a ground ball in the 3rd frame. Sanchez was taken out by Torey Lovullo after Carroll was retired.
It’s highly unlikely that Cristopher Sanchez has a role as a starter for the Phillies, especially with their 3-headed monster of Ranger Suarez, Zack Wheeler, and Aaron Nola. He can still be a serviceable long-relief option and opener in the NLCS and (possibly) the World Series.
Bullpen, Diamondbacks:
Arizona had a bullpen day during Game 4, and while there were some iffy spots, the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff continued shutting the Phillies’ offence down at Chase Field. Joe Mantiply opened for Arizona, recording a clean inning with a strikeout. Fireballer Luis Frias was up next, punching out 2 batters in his 1.1 innings of work. Frias also got some help from left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who made an incredible catch to rob J.T. Realmuto of an extra-base-hit.
However, Philadelphia scored at least one run in four straight innings (4th-7th), with Kyle Nelson, Miguel Castro, Andrew Saalfrank, and Ryan Thompson. 5 total runs were yielded through those 4 innings.
While the Diamondbacks’ bullpen lacks depth, there have been 2 consistent relievers that have carried the majority of the workload. Those 2 relievers are Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald. Both of these pitchers assisted in sealing the win for Arizona. Ginkel recorded the win, while Sewald registered his league-leading 5th save of the season. Arizona will definitely need more consistency and more reliable options from the bullpen going forward.
Offensive Breakdown, Phillies:
The Phillies’ offence was relatively solid. 6 out of the 9 batters in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit, with 2 batters logging multi-hit games. In the end, they simply couldn’t drive in runners in scoring position in the late innings. Paul Sewald and Kevin Ginkel have just been that dominant, with both pitchers combining for a 0.00 ERA over 12.1 IP.
Philadelphia had a main problem facing different pitching styles, with Joe Mantiply’s finesse pitching and Luis Frias’ power pitching. Philadelphia went 1-9 in the first three innings, with Trea Turner recording the Phillies’ lone hit.
In the top of the fourth inning, Kyle Schwarber crushed a 409 FT solo shot off of Kyle Nelson, making the score only 2-1 in favour of Arizona. In the fifth inning, Brandon Marsh stepped up to the dish with a runner on second and 2 away. Marsh roped an RBI double to tie up the game at 2.
Fast forward to the top of the sixth inning where the Phillies had the bases loaded and nobody out. Alec Bohm slapped a ground ball to third base and Emmanuel Rivera came home with it. Rivera’s throw was a one-hopper that ate up catcher Gabriel Moreno and went to the backstop. Both Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner scored, but Bohm was out at second trying to claim the extra 90 feet. Philadelphia took the lead 4-2. In the top of the seventh frame, 9-hitter Johan Rojas pounded a 1-out triple to right field. Trea Turner then came up and hit a flyball deep enough for Rojas to easily score, extending Philadelphia’s lead to 5-2.
However, Philadelphia’s offence simply couldn’t come up clutch in the 8th and 9th innings. In both cases, the Phillies had a runner in scoring position with 2 outs. Also in both cases, Philadelphia couldn’t capitalize and these situations were a main reason why the Phillies came up short.
Offensive Breakdown, Diamondbacks:
The Diamondbacks’ offence was rather inconsistent, but they were able to capitalize on the opportunities that they were presented with in the late innings. Arizona put the pressure on Philadelphia early on, with Emmanuel Rivera and Gabriel Moreno both having RBI singles in the 2nd and 3rd innings. This gave the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead.
Arizona’s offensive attack was stalling in the middle innings, but the 7th frame was where the Diamondbacks began chipping away at Philly’s 5-2 lead. Gregory Soto entered the 7th with 1 out, but Arizona quickly got to Soto. Geraldo Perdomo singled and Ketel Marte registered a walk, giving Corbin Carroll an opportunity to tie the game. However, Carroll grounded into a fielder’s choice. This left 2 men on, but there were now 2 outs. Phillies’ Manager Rob Thomson brought in Orion Kerkering, who walked two straight batters that gave Arizona a run to make the score 5-3 for Philadelphia. Kerkering found his way out of the inning by retiring Pavin Smith.
Arizona came to life in the 8th inning. Ex-Blue Jay Lourdes Gurriel Jr. roped a double to lead off the frame off of Craig Kimbrel. Evan Longoria lined out to Brandon Marsh on the warning track, bringing up Alek Thomas. Thomas got his barrel to a fastball on the outside corner and pulled it to deep right-centre field for a game-tying home run. However, the Diamondbacks were far from done this inning.
After Geraldo Perdomo got called out on strikes, Ketel Marte singled to left and Corbin Carroll was hit by a pitch. Rob Thomson went to the fireballer, Jose Alvarado, to face postseason star Gabriel Moreno. Moreno took a 100 MPH sinker from Alvarado and roped it to centre field for a go-ahead RBI single to give Arizona the lead 6-5. The Diamondbacks’ offence wasn’t extremely potent, but they were able to clutch up when needed.
Top Performers, Phillies:
Kyle Schwarber (DH) – 2-3, 2 Runs, HR, RBI, BB
Trea Turner (SS) – 1-3, Run, RBI, BB
Alec Bohm (3B) – 2-4, RBI
Johan Rojas (CF) – 1-3, Run
Jeff Hoffman (RP) – 1.2 IP, Hit, 3 K’s
Top Performers, Diamondbacks:
Ketel Marte (2B) – 2-4, 2 Runs, BB
Gabriel Moreno (C) – 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Christian Walker (1B) – 0-4, Run, RBI, BB
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (LF) – 1-4, Run
Alek Thomas (PH-CF) – 1-1, Run, HR, 2 RBI
Paul Sewald (CP) – 1.0 IP, Hit, 3 K’s, SV
Game 5 of the NLCS begins on Saturday, October 21 at 8:07 PM EST. Phillies’ ace Zack Wheeler will take the hill for Philadelphia, looking to continue his postseason successes in 2023. Zac Gallen will get the ball for Arizona, looking to rebound from his poor start in Game 1 of this championship series. The Diamondbacks hope to continue their success at Chase Field in Game 5.
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)