Diamondbacks even NLCS
Phillies fit to be tied as series goes to Game 5
PHOENIX — Rob Thomson Wednesday shared with the media praise for closer Craig Kimbrel, an All-Star whom the manager said has “really had a really good year for us, probably better than expected, to tell you the truth.”
The other shoe has dropped on that assessment.
For the second straight day, Kimbrel let a game get away. And for a second straight day, the Phillies heavily taxed their bullpen only to see it go for naught in a 6-5 loss to Arizona in Friday’s Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
Kimbrel gave up three runs in the bottom of the eighth. The big blow was pinch-hitter Alek Thomas’ two-run shot to right-center to tie the game at five.
Kimbrel followed by putting the next two batters on via a walk and hit by pitch, which let Gabriel Moreno single to center off Jose Alvarado to chase home Ketel Marte with the winning run.
Marte won Game 3 with a walkoff single off Kimbrel in the ninth.
“The last two games sucked,” Kimbrel said. “I rolled up in here and cost us two games. But the bright side is we’re still tied at 2-2, and we’ve got a game tomorrow.”
Paul Sewald gave up a 2-out double to Kyle Schwarber in the ninth. But he struck out Trea Turner to end the game.
Sewald was pitcher No. 16 in what became a bullpen game for both sides. It was a baseball eternity since Joe Mantiply and Cristopher Sanchez had started the mess, in which the Phillies trailed 2-0, led 5-2 and ultimately are left to have to fight through a best-of-3.
The Phillies looked stuck in the mud offensively, having sent the minimum to the plate over the first three innings. But Schwarber, one swing after Ryne Nelson broke his bat on a foul ball, led off the fourth with a 409-foot home run to right, breaking a tie with Reggie Jackson for the most postseason home runs in history by a lefty with 19.
It also broke open the dam, the Phillies scoring in four straight innings after one run in their first 13 innings in an offensive desert.
Brandon Marsh tied the game in the fifth with an RBI double to score J.T. Realmuto, off lefty Andrew Saalfrank. Saalfrank walked the bases loaded to start the sixth. Two would score when Alec Bohm pounded a grounder just over the bag at third and Emmanuel Rivera shorthopped Moreno at the plate to allow a second run to score. Ryan Thompson, who allowed yesterday’s run with a wild pitch, got out of the jam with a strikeout and a groundout.
Johan Rojas, who had been 3-for35 in the playoffs, roped a triple inside the bag at first with one out in the seventh. He never picked up Dusty Wathan’s stop sign and barely made it into third ahead the throw. The risk paid off when the D’backs walked Schwarber and Turner lined a sac fly to left to make it 5-2.
It wouldn’t be enough. Seranthony Dominguez pitched around a walk and a hit in the sixth. He got the first out of the seventh before getting lifted.