(Philadelphia) Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit back-to-back home runs and Merrill Kelly struck out eight batters to help the Arizona Diamondbacks force a Game 7 of the NFL Championship Series. National by virtue of a 5-1 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.
The winners of this decisive game on Tuesday will face in the World Series the Texas Rangers or the Houston Astros, who played a game number 7 late Monday evening.
“It’s going to be fun,” Kelly said of the ultimate match. A seventh game, those are the best words in sport. Nobody thought we were going to play a sixth game. I don’t think anyone thought we were even going to make it to Game 1.”
“I don’t think anyone thought we were going to beat the Milwaukee Brewers, to be honest with you. »
The Diamondbacks were ready to back up manager Torey Lovullo’s bold pregame remarks and muzzle Phillies hitters in front of a hostile crowd.
“Getting here is really important, so we have the mentality to go for it,” Lovullo said before Game 6. We didn’t come across the country to get our butts kicked. We came to play our best game and our players will be ready. »
The Diamondbacks were ready, and Kelly didn’t want to leave the game.
Kelly struck out Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper in order in the fifth with the D-Backs leading 4-1. When Kelly headed to the dugout, Lovullo told him he wasn’t coming back to the mound. The gunner appeared agitated, making signs with his glove to indicate that he wanted to continue.
“After going through Schwarber, Harper and Turner, I thought I was going to get back on the mound in the sixth,” Kelly said. This took me a little by surprise. But that’s Torey’s job. My job is to pitch. His job is to make the decisions, and ultimately I have to live with those decisions. »
Four relievers took turns to shut out the Phillies in the final four innings and end their winning streak at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies were held to six hits and lost for the first time in seven home playoff games. They lost the fourth and fifth games of the last World Series against the Astros, but won 11 consecutive games against the National teams in the playoffs.
The Phillies sent Aaron Nola to the mound – exactly one year after they defeated the San Diego Padres in the Championship Series – with hopes of reaching the World Series for a second straight year.
Nola has been brilliant in each of his playoff starts, while he could be in his final games with the Phillies heading into the free agent market. He was 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA thus far.
His record is now 3-1. The Diamondbacks, who lost the first two games of this series, did not need to come from behind like they did before to stay alive this time.
Nola allowed home runs to Pham and Gurriel. He still hadn’t conceded a long ball since the start of the playoffs. Pham had been limited to one hit in 13 official at-bats in this series.
Nola walked Alek Thomas, who tied the game with a two-run homer in Game 4. A double from Evan Longoria then made it 3-0.
Kelly, who allowed three solo home runs in the second game, had to get out of some tricky situations in this game.
He put two runners on the trail in the first inning before striking out Alec Bohm and forcing Bryson Stott to hit a fly ball.
Kelly then gave up a productive single to Brandon Marsh and put two players on base with two outs. Turner, however, split the air on three pitches out of the strike zone to put an end to the threat.
Ketel Marte extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a productive triple in the fifth that made it 4-1 and chased Nola from the game. He added a run-scoring single off Orion Kerkering in the seventh.