PHOENIX — The Phillies had the advantage on paper.
The Diamondbacks were throwing out a bullpen game with no projected bulk reliever against breakout starter Cristopher Sánchez. It had been nearly a month since he made a start, but the Phillies were confident that Sánchez would be a great matchup against the Diamondbacks. Arizona struggled against changeups all year and were prone to hitting the ball on the ground.
The Phillies were confident that everything would line up. It didn’t work that way. For the second straight night, closer Craig Kimbrel lost it. José Alvarado came in to rescue the game, but it was too late. He surrendered the go-ahead run on a single by Gabriel Moreno in a crushing 6-5 loss in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
The Phillies’ big offseason trade acquisition, Gregory Soto, was asked to face a pair of switch hitters and the opposing team’s best lefty bat but could not throw strikes. It led to the Phillies asking a rookie to throw on back-to-back days for the first time in his professional career. Orion Kerkering tried to be too fine with location and walked a run in.
“He was just yanking [the slider] more. Kind of non competitive. Maybe he just tried to make too much of an adjustment and just wasn’t able to get it going,” J.T. Realmuto said about Kerkering. “It’s the same thing with the rest of our ‘pen. When they fall behind, it’s hard to get outs.”
It could have been the dagger, but Kerkering was able to regroup and get the next hitter Pavin Smith to ground out to first to strand the bases loaded.
Everything fell apart an inning later and the only thing the Phillies can do is regroup and hope to leave Phoenix with a series lead.
“We have to play better baseball, and that’s all there is to it,” Rob Thomson said. “I thought our at-bats were good tonight. We did make a couple of good plays on defense. But, yeah, the wild pitches and not knowing how many outs there are, that’s just a fundamental error.”
Sánchez didn’t have his changeup on Friday. He threw it 15 times and did not land it for a called strike once. Arizona hitters swung at the pitch only four times.
Even though he didn’t have his bread-and-butter pitch, Sánchez still had a way out. With a runner on first thanks to a throwing error by Alec Bohm, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a grounder to the mound. It wasn’t an easy play, but Sánchez fielded it cleanly. He forgot that there was only one out in the inning and threw the ball to first. It ended up costing the Phillies a run as the Diamondbacks went on to drive in that run that should have been an out.
That was not where the game was lost. Not even close. In a way, Sánchez did his job. He faced 11 batters and was pulled following lefty Corbin Carroll’s second at-bat. If he had his changeup and dominated the way the Phillies dreamed he would, maybe he finishes the third inning.
The game was lost when the Phillies went to arm after arm only to empty the well and have nothing to show for in the end. It was in danger when the Phillies had the bases loaded and nobody out, scored two runs on a fluky single by Bohm only for him to get tagged out at second needlessly trying to get into scoring position.
But none of that really matters if the bullpen was able to hold on.
Both pitching staffs were running on fumes and the Diamondbacks responded with gutsy outing after gutsy outing. When the Phillies had Arizona’s best lefty Andrew Saalfrank on the brink, the D-Backs responded with two huge innings from funky righty Ryan Thompson and scoreless appearances from back end arms Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald.
Give credit to Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm and Seranthony Domínguez, who were brilliant in the middle innings. They would have been front and center of yet another story of the Phillies walking a tightrope and surviving.
But that bullpen magic didn’t carry over later in the game and it came down to the D-Backs being rewarded for filling their pitching staff with trusted leverage relievers. The Phillies played it safe and used two spots on a pair of pitchers the team only plans on using in an emergency extra-innings situation. One of those pitchers, Taijuan Walker, was not given the chance to start Game 4 and watched the game from the bullpen.
The other, Michael Lorenzen, was their biggest trade deadline acquisition of the summer. He could have been used in the eighth when the lead was blown, but he is not trusted.
“Well, both those guys are the length guys really,” Thomson said. “That’s how I see it. And Taijuan is really ready for extra innings if we need it or early in the game if we get down or we have a big lead. And kind of the same thing with Lorenzen.”
Both were huge organizational investments and none of them had a say in this game.
Kimbrel’s outing will get the headlines. After throwing 24 pitches in the ninth inning of last night’s walk-off loss, Kimbrel was called on to face a pocket of Diamondbacks righties closer to the bottom of the order: Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Evan Longoria, and Emmanuel Rivera. Three outs and the Phillies could hand the ball to Alvarado in the ninth.
He once again struggled to command his curveball and it cost him. He allowed a double to Gurriel and blew yet another game with a two-run home run to the pool against the lefty pinch hitter Alek Thomas.
He could see a lower leverage spot later in the series. The Phillies hope it’s in either Game 6 or 7.
“Do you put him in at a little lower leverage spot? I don’t know,” Thomson said. “I’ll talk with Caleb [Cotham] and talk through it and see where we’re at.”
“I’ve been in the big leagues for a long time,” Kimbrel said. “I’ve lost a lot of ballgames and I’ve won a lot of ballgames. The only way you come back and be successful is believe that you can.”
It was a jarring way to lose a game. Not because a lead was blown late. It’s something Phillies observers were used to watching over and over again late in the season.
They lost in a way they haven’t lost before this season.
The Phillies came into the playoffs as one of the favorites out of the National League because they had one of the deepest pitching staffs. Alvarado has one of the most electric arms in the sport. Kimbrel is an All-Star. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola at the top of the rotation are as good as it gets. Hoffman, Domínguez and Strahm represent enviable depth. The rookie Kerkering flashes star potential.
To their credit, the D-Backs have found a way to tie this series by attacking the Phillies’ strengths in all facets.
Arizona’s biggest test comes on Saturday. They’ll have to take down Zack Wheeler, who has quickly become one of the greatest postseason pitchers in baseball history. The Diamondbacks have their ace, Zac Gallen, on the mound, but they will also have to deal with bullpen restraints that will also plague the Phillies. Thompson, Saalfrank, Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald are all working on three straight days. The Phillies have Hoffman, Kerkering, Alvarado and Kimbrel on the dreaded three days.
If the two pitchers have their way, Game 5 won’t be another war of attrition.
Maybe that benefits the Phillies. Maybe it doesn’t.
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