The Arizona Diamondbacks launched a counterattack.
After a tense pitching battle in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) held at Chase Field on the 20th (Korean time), Arizona achieved a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies with Ketel Marte hitting a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Arizona, which was in crisis after losing both the first and second away games, earned its first win at home and closed with a series record of 1 win and 2 losses.
Arizona had an opportunity in the bottom of the 9th inning when leader Louerdes Gurriel Jr. walked on the 8th pitch with opponent closer Craig Kimbrel on a full count. Following Gurriel's stolen second base, Fabin Smith's infield hit to shortstop put the team on first and third base with no outs. The next batter, Emmanuel Rivera, was at bat, and Smith stole second base without any outs, leaving runners on 2nd and 3rd base.
Philadelphia's infield had no choice but to play forward defense. Rivera's batted ball quickly rolled to the left grounder. Shortstop Trey Turner turned to the left, caught the batted ball, and quickly threw it home to remove the runner on third base. With one out and runners on first and second base, Heraldo Perdomo walked and the bases were loaded again.
Then, leadoff Marte caught Kimbrel's second pitch, a high 96 mph fastball at ball count 1S, and produced a walk-off hit that fell to the right of center field, bringing home Smith, the runner on third base.
Arizona has the lowest regular season performance among the 12 teams that advanced to this postseason. Although they were tied with the Miami Marlins at 84 wins and 78 losses, they fell behind with a record of 2 wins and 4 losses.
However, Arizona completely defeated Milwaukee with two wins in the Wild Card Series and then completely defeated the Dodgers, who had 100 wins in the regular season, with three wins in the Division Series. In fall baseball, the morale and fighting spirit of the players are as important variables as objective power. In this regard, Arizona was expected to have a close game with Philadelphia. That power came out in the third game.
It is no exaggeration to say that starting pitcher Brandon Part played a key role in the victory, pitching 5⅔ innings, allowing 2 hits and striking out 9 on the mound. Part made his major league debut this year and was unstable with 3 wins and 9 losses and an ERA of 5.72 in 19 games during the regular season. However, in Game 3 of the Division Series on the 12th, he held the Dodgers' batting lineup to 2 hits and no runs in 4⅓ innings, raising expectations.
Philadelphia starting Ranger Suarez also pitched well, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, and no runs in 5⅓ innings. Although both teams' batting lineups consistently sent out runners, the game continued as a heated pitching battle throughout.
In the top of the first inning, Philadelphia had one out and Turner singled to right, but Bryce Harper hit a double play to second base. In Arizona, with two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Gurriel hit a heavy hit, but Evan Longoria retired with a pitcher's grounder.
Philadelphia had 1 out and 2nd base in the top of the 3rd inning, and Arizona had a scoring opportunity with 2 outs and 2nd base in the bottom of the 3rd inning, but neither of them had a follow-up hit. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Arizona's leadoff hitter Marte hit a double that hit the top of the fence in left-center, but all subsequent batters were silent and missed a crucial opportunity to score first. The spirit of victory seemed to be ignoring Arizona.
In the top of the 7th inning, Philadelphia reached base with leadoff Harper on a walk, advanced to third base on Alec Bohm's infield hit, and Bryson Stutt's double play. Then, while opposing pitcher Ryan Thompson committed a wild pitch on the second pitch at the plate of JT Realmuto, he homered and took the lead. recorded.
However, Arizona tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when Gurriel hit a double to left after Tommy Pham's heavy hit. Arizona was unable to score an additional point due to Rivera's double play and Perdomo's ground ball in the opportunity to have 1st and 3rd bases with no outs, and in the bottom of the 8th inning, they had runners on 1st and 2nd bases with 2 outs, but failed to score.
However, after overcoming the crisis with 2 outs and runners on second base in the top of the 9th inning, a walk-off drama occurred in the bottom of the 9th inning.
The fourth game between the two teams will be held at the same location at 9:07 a.m. on the 21st. Philadelphia announced Christopher Sanchez and Arizona started Joe Mantifly.