The Philadelphia Phillies took care of business Saturday night, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1. Philadelphia finally won in Chase Field for the first time in the NLCS. The Phillies played like they did in Games 1 and 2, and that was clear based on the patience from Philadelphia. The Phillies return to Citizens Bank Park with a 3-2 series lead. Philadelphia will attempt to win the NLCS and head to the World Series for the second straight year.
W: Zack Wheeler (3-0) L: Zac Gallen (2-2)
Zack Wheeler, Phillies:
Zack Wheeler’s outing, like his entire postseason thus far, was stellar. Wheeler only had one 1-2-3 inning all night. Despite letting on many more runners than usual, Wheeler’s ability to bend but never break allowed him to go 7 frames. In his 7 innings, Wheeler gave up only 1 earned run and struck out 8 batters. The veteran righty improved his 2023 postseason ERA and WHIP to marks of 2.08 and 0.73.
Wheeler started off the game rather iffy, with the Diamondbacks having runners on the corners with only 1 out. The 33-year-old was able to get Christian Walker swinging and Pavin Smith to ground out, keeping the Phillies’ lead at 2-0.
Zack Wheeler was able to fulfil his goal of going 7 innings on Saturday night. Wheeler’s success will be required by Philadelphia as they look to win their third World Series Championship in 2023.
Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks:
Zac Gallen wasn’t effective again against the Phillies’ offence. Gallen went 6 innings, but he gave up 4 earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. The 28-year-old only registered 1 strikeout, continuing his poor swing-and-miss ability this postseason. During the regular season, the young righty had 220 strikeouts in 210 innings, averaging more than a strikeout per inning pitched. However, during the postseason, Gallen has 13 strikeouts in 22.1 innings. He’s averaging less than a strikeout per inning during the postseason. His dominant swing-and-miss stuff from the regular season has supposedly disappeared in the playoffs.
Another main issue in regards to Gallen is his poor command. In the regular season, Gallen’s BB/9 was 2. However, the righty’s BB/9 in the postseason skyrocketed to 3.66. His ERA has increased to 5.24 in the postseason. What has happened to Zac Gallen?
The main problem is obviously the lack of swing-and-miss stuff. Gallen is averaging about 5.2 innings this postseason, but he’s averaging about 91 pitches per outing. The pitch count for Gallen shows that batters are having at-bats that eat into Gallen’s pitch count. Hitters have been much more patient against Gallen, and Gallen has had an inability to finish batters off.
Gallen’s knuckle-curve has been the main pitch he went to with 2 strikes on a batter in the regular season. That knuckle-curve had a 25.1 PutAway%, which means that a knuckle-curve, in a 2-strike count, would result in a strikeout once every four times. Gallen used the knuckle-curve plenty of times with 2 strikes on a batter, but the Phillies were able to lay off and increase Gallen’s pitch count. With batters not swinging at the knuckle-curve, Gallen will have to quickly adapt to end his early postseason problems.
Offensive Breakdown, Phillies:
Philadelphia’s offence looked much more potent than they had in Games 3 and 4. Much of that has to do with the patience at the plate. Philadelphia only struck out 5 times in Game 5, which is a heavy improvement from the 11 times in Game 4. This patience assisted the Phillies’ offensive attack in getting to Zac Gallen early and often.
In the top of the first inning, Kyle Schwarber began the inning with a single. After Trea Turner flew out to centre, Bryce Harper came up to the dish and ripped a single. This gave Philadelphia runners on first and second with only 1 out. Bryson Stott then ripped a 2-out single on a knuckle-curve to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. This gave Philadelphia runners on the corners with 2 away.
Bryson Stott ran to steal second and Diamondbacks’ catcher Gabriel Moreno threw it down to second. Bryce Harper, who was on third, saw Moreno’s throw and decided to take a chance and head home. Ketel Marte’s throw to the plate forced Moreno into Harper’s running lane, and unfortunately, a collision resulted. Harper scored to make the game 2-0 and luckily, Moreno was able to stay in the game.
Fast forward to the top of the 6th where Kyle Schwarber absolutely demolished a hanging knuckle-curve from Zac Gallen. The dinger went a whopping 461 (!!!) feet and had an exit velocity of 114.1 MPH. In the same inning, Bryce Harper wanted to get in on the action, so he pounced on a high fastball from Gallen and sent it 444 feet at an exit velocity of 112.4 MPH. Both of these solo shots extended Philadelphia’s lead to 4-0.
After Arizona got a run back in the 7th, the Phillies looked to add some insurance to put the game away. J.T. Realmuto answered the call, mashing a 382 FT 2-run shot to left field to make the score 6-1 in favour of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia’s offence head back to Citizens Bank Park for Game 6, looking to capitalize on the convincing Game 5 victory.
Offensive Breakdown, Diamondbacks:
The Arizona Diamondbacks simply couldn’t capitalize on scoring opportunities, which is odd to say because that’s what they did in Games 3 and 4. They had a total of 8 hits and walked twice, but they only wound up with 1 run. They had a chance to put pressure on Zack Wheeler early, but they simply couldn’t capitalize.
Majority of these hits came with one or two outs and the majority of them were singles. When you combine a lack of extra base hits and only a few outs to work with, it results in a high demand of consistency throughout the entire lineup. Alek Thomas was the only one who could get a run across through a solo homer in the 7th, but 1 run will not be enough to outslug the Phillies’ offence. Arizona had to string hits together and the starting nine wasn’t consistent enough to complete the task at hand.
The Diamondbacks’ offence will have to get to Aaron Nola often and early in Game 6 to keep their playoff aspirations alive.
Top Performers, Phillies:
Kyle Schwarber (DH) – 2-4, 2 Runs, HR, RBI
Bryce Harper (1B) – 2-4, 3 Runs, HR, RBI, SB
Bryson Stott (2B) – 2-4, RBI, SB
J.T. Realmuto (C) – 1-4, Run, HR, 2 RBI
Zack Wheeler (SP) – 7.0 IP, 6 Hits, 1 ER, 8 K’s, BB
Top Performers, Diamondbacks:
Corbin Carroll (RF) – 1-4, BB
Alek Thomas (CF) – 1-4, Run, HR, RBI
Geraldo Perdomo (SS) – 2-4
Zac Gallen (SP) – 6.0 IP, 6 Hits, 4 ER, K, 2 BB
Miguel Castro – 1.0 IP, Hit, 2 K’s
Game 6 of the NLCS begins on Monday, October 23 at 5:07 PM EST. Aaron Nola and his 0.96 ERA will get the ball for the Phillies. Merrill Kelly will take the mound for Arizona to hopefully keep Arizona’s playoff aspirations alive. With the Diamondbacks facing elimination, they will have to overcome a very hostile environment to force a Game 7.
(Photo Via Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports/Reuters)