Phillies’ bats go quiet during 2-1 loss to Diamondbacks in Game 3 of NL Championship Series
PHOENIX — Philadelphia’s hot bats went down in a wave of whiffs.
Overpowering at the plate in the first two games, the Phillies struck out 13 times Thursday during a 2-1 loss to Arizona that trimmed their lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series.
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“Not lack of focus, I can tell you that,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “These guys were locked in today coming into the ballpark and all the work was really good.”
The Diamondbacks won Game 3 on Ketel Marte’s bases-loaded single off Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning after missing opportunities all afternoon.
Philadelphia’s quiet day at the plate set the stage for the home heroics.
The defending NL champion Phillies jumped on the Diamondbacks early in the series’ opening two games in Philadelphia, hitting six homers while outscoring them 15-3.
The desert air — not to mention Arizona’s pitchers — caused a Game 3 power outage.
Diamondbacks rookie Brandon Pfaadt started the whiff fest, striking out nine in 5 2/3 innings while matching Ranger Suárez’s stellar start for the Phillies.
Arizona’s relievers picked it up from there, combining with Pfaadt to hold the Phillies — top 10 in hitting all season — to three hits. Philadelphia scored its only run, in the seventh inning, without hitting a ball out of the infield.
“Ranger kept us in it, but we didn’t do enough offensively,” shortstop Trea Turner said.
It was a much different story in Philadelphia.
Playing in front of their raucous fans, the Phillies bashed Arizona’s top two starters to begin the series, scoring a combined nine runs in 10 2/3 innings off Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly.
A rookie had them flailing at pitches all afternoon in the desert.
Pfaadt got Philadelphia’s hitters to chase big curveballs and freeze on mid-90s fastballs, inducing 18 swings and misses. The right-hander struck out six of seven starting in the second inning. He allowed two hits with no walks before manager Torey Lovullo pulled him with two outs in the sixth.
The move after 70 pitches led to boos by the hometown fans that changed to cheers for Pfaadt as he walked to the dugout.
“I’m sure I wasn’t the most popular guy in the city of Phoenix, in the downtown area, maybe the entire state of Arizona,” Lovullo said. “I want everybody to know that is trying to think along with me that I have a strategy for everything that’s going on. Everything that’s done (has) been well-talked about.”
Louvllo’s plan worked out well for the Diamondbacks.
Pfaadt’s replacement, Andrew Saalfrank, got the final out of the sixth inning and started the seventh to face Bryce Harper. Saalfrank walked the two-time NL MVP, who scored on Ryan Thompson’s wild pitch following an infield single and a double play.
That was it for the Phillies.
Thompson ended the seventh inning with a strikeout. Kevin Ginkel struck out two in the eighth and Paul Sewald closed out the ninth after a two-out walk to Harper.
“They were able to capitalize on stuff that were weren’t able to capitalize on,” Harper said.
No more Philadelphia bullying. Arizona’s pitchers made sure of that, shutting down a team that had bashed its way through the playoffs before arriving in the desert.
