PALO ALABASTE (AP) In the fifth inning, Merrill Kelly retired Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, and Kyle Schwarber in order, striking out Harper and Schwarber, October’s top home run threats.
After 90 pitches, manager Torey Lovullo signaled that the start was finished with a handshake as the pitcher arrived at the dugout. Kelly looked upset, waving his glove as though to indicate that he still had a lot more in the tank after striking out Harper and Schwarber.
Kelly remarked, “I think it took me by surprise more than anything.”
This could be the real surprise, particularly for Philadelphia. With a single victory, the Arizona Diamondbacks can win their first World Series since 2001, having lost the opening two games of the NL Championship Series.
With back-to-back home runs from Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., as well as eight strikeouts before Kelly’s early hook, Arizona defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 on Monday to advance to Game 7.
Texas, who defeated Houston on Monday night to win the AL pennant, will face the winner of Tuesday night’s game in the World Series.
At Citizens Bank Park, Kelly and four relievers shut down the Phillies and put an end to their incredible run of success. Arizona’s bullpen stopped a runner from getting to second base.
“I’m expecting some fun, Kelly said. Game 7, obviously, they talk about, it’s the best words in sports.
Nobody seemed to have anticipated that we would take them to Game 6 based on the fact that we are here. Nobody, I believe, anticipated that we would advance to Game 1. To be honest with you, I don’t think anyone anticipated that we would go past Milwaukee.
Arizona supported Lovullo’s audacious pregame remarks with a 45.473 home crowd, subdued Phillies bats, and a controlled lineup.
We have that all-in approach because getting there is so essential,” Lovullo said prior to Game 6. We didn’t come across the nation only to get slapped around. We came here to play baseball, so our guys will be ready to play it to the best of their abilities.
Kelly gave up three hits, three walks, and one run.
According to Lovullo, “he was telling me with his statements that he could go back out there.” However, I have to act as the parent in the room, make the difficult choice, and give it to the bullpen, which has been incredibly effective.
Arizona’s bullpen did, in fact, give up three hits in four scoreless innings.
The top three batters for Philadelphia, Harper, Turner, and Schwarber, combined for a 0 for 9 hitting average and four strikeouts. Nick Castellanos finished the series 0 for 4, down to 1 for 20.
It was Philadelphia’s first home loss in seven postseason games. The Phillies had won 11 straight postseason home games against NL opponents until losing Games 4 and 5 to Houston in the World Series.
According to Pham, Arizona showed that they are a team as tough as any that participated in the tournament.
We always thought we could win this if we had some quality pitching, played excellent defense, and executed our game, he said.
Six months after defeating San Diego to win the National League pennant, the Phillies sent Aaron Nola to the mound in an attempt to win the World Series twice in a row.
Nola was lights out in every postseason start, pitching against the backdrop that the pending free agent could be down to his final games with the Phillies. He was 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA in October.
Make it 3-1.
Nola allowed homers to Pham and Gurriel in almost the same spots in the left field seats, the first ones the longest-tenured Phillies player allowed all postseason.
A sign this wouldn’t be Nola’s night? Pham was benched for Game 5 because of a 1-for-13 effort in the NLCS.
Nola walked light-hitting Alek Thomas, who hit a tying, two-run homer in Game 4, and Evan Longoria doubled for a 3-0 lead. Longoria, who played for Tampa Bay against the Phillies in the 2008 World Series, had been 1 for 12 in the series.
They didn’t miss too many balls over the plate, Nola said.
Kelly pitched his way out of trouble in this one after giving up three solo home runs in a defeat in Game 2.
In the first inning, he allowed two runners to reach base before getting Alec Bohm to slump and retiring Bryson Stott on a shallow flyout. In the second, Kelly allowed Brandon Marsh to reach base twice and put two on with no outs. To eliminate the threat, Kelly then got Turner to swing at three pitches beyond the zone.
Ketel Marte drove Nola out of the game in the fifth inning with a run-scoring triple, extending his playoff hitting streak to 15 games. In the seventh inning off of Orion Kerkering, he added an RBI single.
This is a moment we deserve, Lovullo declared.
