The Arizona Diamondbacks’ offence was stellar on Saturday night, crushing the Rangers 9-1. Merrill Kelly also dominated the Rangers’ offence as Arizona tied the World Series 1-1. The Diamondbacks head home for Game 3 and look to extend their series lead to 2-1.
W: Merrill Kelly (3-1) L: Jordan Montgomery (3-1)
Merrill Kelly, Diamondbacks:
Merrill Kelly was spectacular in Game 2 of the World Series. Kelly went 7.0 innings, allowing only 1 earned run on 3 hits. Kelly also registered 9 strikeouts and yielded no walks. With Zac Gallen continuing to struggle, Merrill Kelly’s postseason has been highly demanded by Arizona. The 35-year-old’s postseason ERA decreased to 2.25 after his impressive outing.
The breakdown of Kelly’s 9 strikeouts is as follows:
Cutter – 3 K’s
Four Seam Fastball – 2 K’s
Changeup – 1 K
Curveball – 1 K
Sinker – 1 K
Slider – 1 K
Merrill Kelly has plenty of different pitches to keep hitters off balance. All of the cutters that resulted in strikeouts were on the outside corner to lefties. 7 out of the 9 strikeouts Kelly registered came on outside put-away pitches. To righties, Kelly caught 2 righties looking at four-seam fastballs on the outside corner. The changeup low-and-away got Rangers’ centre fielder Leody Taveras swinging. The intelligent utilization of all of Kelly’s weapons was critical to the Diamondbacks’ Game 2 victory.
Jordan Montgomery, Rangers:
For his standards, Jordan Montgomery’s outing was not great at all. Montgomery did not have his swing-and-miss stuff from his last postseason starts. In fact, the southpaw registered no strikeouts on Saturday night. Also, Montgomery only registered 2 whiffs in his 6 innings of work. The veteran lefty yielded 4 earned runs on 9 hits through his 6 frames. His postseason ERA rose to 2.90 after his poor Game 2 start.
Despite the faulty results, Montgomery remained relatively efficient. He hurled 75 pitches (50 strikes) over the course of his outing. However, the Diamondbacks were able to capitalize on the mistakes Montgomery made early in the at-bats. In the top of the 4th inning, Tommy Pham roped a first-pitch sinker to the opposite field for a double. The next batter, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., slapped an RBI single on the 2nd pitch of the at-bat. The Diamondbacks scored a run on 3 pitches, showing their aggressiveness early on in their plate appearances.
Offensive Breakdown, Diamondbacks:
The Diamondbacks offence was solid, tallying 9 runs off of the Rangers’ pitching staff. Each of Arizona’s starting 9 tallied at least one hit. 4 of those players registered multi-hit games, including a 4-hit game from DH Tommy Pham. Overall, Arizona scored 9 runs on 16 hits and 3 walks. The Diamondbacks’ offence only struck out twice against the Rangers’ pitching staff.
Ketel Marte broke the record for most consecutive postseason games with at least one hit. His postseason hit streak was extended to 18 games Saturday night. This broke the previous record of 17 games, set by Manny Ramirez, Derek Jeter, and Hank Bauer.
One of the main reasons Arizona has been so effective in the playoffs is their aggressiveness on the basepaths. While stolen bases didn’t play a huge part in Game 2 of the World Series, it has been crucial throughout the postseason for the Diamondbacks. In fact, the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks only trail the 2008 Rays for the most stolen bags in a single postseason.
Arizona’s offence didn’t get off to a fast start, going 2-9 in the first 3 innings. However, in the 4th frame, Arizona got it going. Gabriel Moreno stepped up to the plate with 1 out against Jordan Montgomery. Moreno capped off an 8-pitch at-bat with a 413 FT dinger to centre field to give Arizona the 1-0 lead. Then, Tommy Pham doubled and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove him in with an RBI single to extend Arizona’s lead to 2-0.
Fast forward to the top of the 6th inning where Alek Thomas led off the inning with a double to centre field. Veteran Evan Longoria stepped up to the dish and he grounded a single to left, scoring Alek Thomas and making the score 3-1. Corbin Carroll then came up with Longoria on 2nd and two outs. The phenom crushed a single 102.1 MPH to left field, scoring Longoria from second to extend the lead to 4-1.
In the 8th and 9th innings, Arizona piled on, scoring 5 runs through 2-run singles by Ketel Marte and Emmanuel Rivera and an RBI single from Corbin Carroll in that 8th frame. Arizona’s offence will look to continue their dominance in Game 3 at home.
Offensive Breakdown, Rangers:
Texas’ offence was completely clueless when facing Merrill Kelly. The Rangers’ offence struck out 10 times on the night, which is 8 more times than Arizona. The Rangers started Game 2 very poorly, going 1-13 in the first 4 frames. Texas has a tough test ahead in Game 3 as they will have to overcome the hostile environment in Phoenix.
In the 5th inning, Texas finally chipped into the Diamondbacks then-2-0 lead. Mitch Garver crushed his 3rd home run of the postseason 404 feet to left field. However, this would be the only run the Rangers scored all night. The issue wasn’t even leaving runners on base. It was simply getting runners on base. The Rangers’ lineup only tallied 7 total bases on Saturday night.
The Rangers’ inconsistency throughout the starting lineup was very problematic. With Texas coming off of a dramatic Game 1 win, Arizona completely flipped the script and blew out the Rangers 9-1. The Rangers’ offensive attack will have to quickly rebound to win Game 3.
Top Performers, Diamondbacks:
Ketel Marte (2B) – 1-5, 2 RBI
Corbin Carroll (RF) – 2-5, 2 RBI
Tommy Pham (DH) – 4-4, 2 Runs
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (LF) – 2-3, Run, RBI
Alek Thomas (CF) – 2-5, Run
Merrill Kelly (SP) – 7.0 IP, 3 Hits, ER, 9 K’s
Top Performers, Rangers:
Evan Carter (LF) – 1-3
Mitch Garver (DH) – 1-4, Run, HR, RBI
Marcus Semien (2B) – 1-4
Josh Jung (3B) – 1-3
Game 3 of the World Series goes on Monday, October 30 at 8:03 PM EST. Veteran Max Scherzer receives the ball for the Texas Rangers. Rookie Brandon Pfaadt and his 2.70 postseason ERA will take the mound for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Brandon Pfaadt and the Diamondbacks look to build off their momentum from Game 2, while Max Scherzer looks to turn back the clock and take back the World Series lead.
(Photo Via Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)