Despite losing their MVP Candidate and their Opening Day starter to injuries, the Diamondbacks continued their winning ways in an 11-1 blowout of the Philadelphia Phillies at Chase Field. Jake McCarthy connected for the first multihomer game of his career, hitting a pair of two-run home runs, in front of a large crowd of 46,183 fans as Arizona was handing out replica rings to celebrate an NLCS win over the Phillies last season.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“It was electric in here tonight,” said McCarthy on the postgame coverage on Dbacks TV. “Even that last out here in a 10-run game and they’re still on their feet going crazy. We obviously really appreciate that, it made a difference tonight.”
Throughout his career, McCarthy has owned the Phillies. In 18 games against his hometown team, he is batting .377 with six home runs and a 1.095 OPS. Those six home runs are by far the most he’s hit against any opponent, accounting for a third of his 18 career round-trippers. McCarthy says he isn’t doing anything different against them.
The Diamondbacks led the game wire-to-wire, as Ketel Marte connected for his 30th home run of the season against Aaron Nola in the first. Geraldo Perdomo doubled, then scored when Bryce Harper couldn’t handle the throw from shortstop on a fielder’s choice ground ball by Corbin Carroll.
Arizona dealt with an injury scare to their MVP candidate in the third. Garrett Stubbs lined a ball off the tip of Eugenio Suárez’s glove, rolling into shallow left field. Stubbs stretched it out in a double but ended up accidentally rolling up Marte’s left ankle on a head-first slide. Marte had to leave the game, with the team later announcing a left ankle contusion and x-rays were not needed. After the game, he said that he’ll probably need a day but should be in the lineup for the upcoming Rockies series.
While he labored through the first four innings, Zac Gallen put zeros against the high-powered Phillies offense. A leadoff walk to Kyle Schwarber followed by a double by Trea Turner had Philadelphia in business. Harper hit a comebacker to the mound, but Gallen was unable to get to the ball and suffered a cramp on the play. Schwarber scored to make it 2-1, but all the attention was now on the Diamondbacks’ injured ace. Gallen left the game with a runner at third and one out.
That’s when Kevin Ginkel rescued the ballgame and picked up his injured ace. Ginkel struck out Alec Bohm then pitched around Brandon Marsh to set up a more favorable matchup against Nick Castellanos. Castellanos ripped the first pitch right into Suárez’s glove, which ended up being a huge turning point in the game. For his efforts in that inning, Ginkel earned his seventh win of the season.
The Answerbacks got to Nola again in the fifth. When it looked like the right-hander would escape the inning, McCarthy turned on a cutter that rolled to the inner third of the plate to put Arizona up three runs. That gave the Diamondbacks some breathing room and allowed them to cruise on to victory. They batted around in the seventh, effectively putting the game out of reach.
Scott McGough, in what could be his final appearance as a Diamondback, threw two scoreless innings with some help from some slick defense by Kevin Newman. Newman, who replaced Marte during the game, had a huge impact on the game as he started that seven-run seventh with a leadoff walk against Yunior Marte.
The win guarantees no worse than a series split, extending the number of series the team hasn’t lost to 11. They’ll have a chance to push their series win streak to eight if they can take the series finale on Sunday. Right-hander Merrill Kelly (2-0, 2.19 ERA) is expected to make his first start in nearly four months, although the move has yet to be confirmed, while left-hander Cristopher Sánchez (8-7, 3.21 ERA) will start for the Phillies. First pitch at Chase Field will be at 1:10 P.M. MST.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
