Diamondbacks shock Phillies in Game 7 4-2, head to first World Series since 2001
PHILADELPHIA, PA (3TV/CBS 5/AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies’ offense went cold for the second straight night, and Corbin Carroll had three hits and knocked in two runs to help propel the Arizona Diamondbacks to the World Series with a 4-2 win in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series, shocking the baseball world. Arizona plays the Texas Rangers in the World Series, with Game 1 set for Friday night at Globe Life Field. To learn how fans can score tickets, click/tap here.
Brandon Pfaadt struck out seven in four innings, and five relievers combined to pitch their way out of late-inning jams for the surprising NL pennant winners. Kevin Ginkel struck out the side in the eighth, and Paul Sewald shut the door in the ninth. The bullpen gave up zero runs in five innings. “I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll say it again: A connected team is a very dangerous team,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “No matter what happened in those times of crisis, these guys stuck together.”
Carroll, who was 3-23 heading into Game 7 with 1 RBI and 0 runs or stolen bases, went 3-3 and had two stolen bases. Those three hits are tied for the most by a rookie in a winner-take-all playoff game. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also had two hits. “We did it! That’s all I can say,” said Carroll, the frontrunner for NL Rookie of the Year. “Just believe in each other, believe in our guys. We know what we have in that clubhouse, and it’s special. We’ve known it all year.”
The Diamondbacks got on the board first in the first inning. Carroll hit a single, and then Gabriel Moreno got a hit, sending Carroll to third. He later scored when Christian Walker had broken bat ground out. The Diamondbacks were already 5-0 this postseason when the team scored first.
The Phillies answered in the bottom of the second. Alec Bohm blasted a solo shot 418 feet to tie the game at 1-1. It was his first home run of the postseason.
Tommy Pham showed off the leather by making a diving play to take away a hit from Bryce Harper in the fourth. Bohm walked and Bryson Stott brought him home with a double, giving the Phillies a 2-1 lead. That led the D-backs pitching coach to talk to Brandon Pfaadt but left him in. But the free-swinging Phillies let prime opportunities go to waste. With runners on the corners, Nick Castellanos struck out — at that point, 0 for 21 with 11 strikeouts since a Game 1 homer — and, after a walk to Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas struck out to end the fourth.
In the top of the fifth, after Emmanuel Rivera singled, Carroll singled to center, his third hit of the game, and Rivera scored to tie the game 2-2. He was the last batter Ranger Suárez would face. He gave up two earned runs on six hits in 4 2/3. Carroll then stole second, and Moreno drove him home with a single, giving the D-backs a 3-2 lead.
In the top of the seventh, after a Geraldo Perdomo single, Ketel Marte hit a double, making it 16 straight postseason games with a hit to start a career. It’s the longest such streak in the MLB. Carroll drove in Geraldo Perdomo in the seventh with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. Marte was named the NLCS MVP. The D-backs second baseman had the hottest bat, hitting .387 in the series.
By the time the Phillies broke the in-case-of-emergency on ace Zack Wheeler in the seventh, it was too late. The Phillies team that bashed homers at a record pace against Miami and Atlanta never cashed in on the big hits back home.
Ginkel, the fourth reliever for Arizona, showed his mettle with an absolutely gutsy seventh. After left-hander Andrew Saalfrank walked consecutive batters with one out, Ginkel entered and retired Trea Turner and Harper on flyouts to center field. Ginkel then struck out all three batters in the eighth, and Paul Sewald pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save this postseason. Arizona’s bullpen slammed the door on Philadelphia’s powerful lineup — and shushed Phillies fans who would soon be weeping on their own.
The young Diamondbacks, who at 84-78 squeezed into the playoffs as the final NL wild card, completed their comeback from an 0-2 hole in the NLCS. They won Games 6 and 7 in Philadelphia, where the defending National League champions had been 12-2 over the past two postseasons — including 11-0 in NL playoff games.
Bryce Harper and the rest of the Phillies are forced to ponder this offseason how they let a second straight World Series trip slip away. Philadelphia returned home one win from a pennant but couldn’t close it out, falling behind early in Game 6 and then losing the first Game 7 in the 141-year history of the franchise. “It’s very disappointing. It really is,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I told the club if you asked me two days ago, two weeks ago, two months ago if we would be going home tonight, I would have said no. So that’s how much belief I have in this club.”
HOME COOKED
After winning their first six home postseason games this year, the Phillies dropped the last two and fell to 28-13 in the postseason at Citizens Bank Park.
AMAZING STAT
The Rangers lost 102 games in 2021 and the D-backs lost 110. They became the fifth and sixth teams all-time to reach the World Series within two years of losing 100 games. The most recent was the 2008 Rays.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2023 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
