Entering today, the Phillies were undefeated at Citizens Bank Park during the 2023 postseason, but this did not matter for the Diamondbacks as they grabbed a 5-1 win to stay alive in the NLCS.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Starting on the mound for the D-backs was Merrill Kelly, who delivered one of the best performances of his career.
Against a Phillies offense that has been seeing beach balls at home, Kelly struck out eight batters in five innings while allowing just one earned run.
While he was taken out of the ballgame a bit earlier than he would have liked, the decision ultimately proved to be wise by Torey Lovullo, as the Diamondbacks bullpen picked up right where Kelly left off.
Combined between Ryan Thompson, Andrew Saalfrank, Kevin Ginkel, and Paul Sewald, the D-backs bullpen put together four shutout innings.
Meanwhile, the D-backs, after not leading for a single inning during the first two games at Citizens Bank Park, jumped out to an early lead thanks to back-to-back home runs off the bats of Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
TOMMY PHAM 🤝 LOURDES GURRIEL JR. HR‼️
DBACKS GO BACK-TO-BACK TO GIVE THEM THE EARLY LEAD 😲
(via @Dbacks)pic.twitter.com/LyYPYEuIi6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 23, 2023
Then, led by Ketel Marte, the Diamondbacks tacked on a few more runs as Marte extended his postseason hitting streak to 15 games with a triple in the 5th inning.
With this win, the D-backs will play their first Game 7 since the 2001 World Series.
It will be Brandon Pfaadt vs. Ranger Suarez on the mound, first pitch is scheduled for 5:07 PM.
