The Arizona Diamondbacks won their first game of the NLCS on Thursday night, downing the Philadelphia Phillies in a low-scoring affair.
In the 2-1 victory, D-Backs' Ketel Marte slammed a walk-off single to win the have-to-have-it game, and Phillies players were left staring at what could have been a tremendous advantage in the championship series.
Flowers should be given to Marte, Brandon Pfaadt, and other D-Backs pitchers who helped cool down a red-hot Phillies offense and narrowly escape a 3-0 hole.
Was this Diamondbacks baseball like we saw in the division series? Not exactly. But Arizona got the job done, thanks in part to these Phillies who will rue their disappointing Game 3 performances.
Here are three Phillies players to blame after the NLCS Game 3 loss.
Craig Kimbrel
Phillies fans knew they were done for when Craig Kimbrel stepped on in the ninth inning. White Sox fans knew the feeling, too.
Kimbrel has 417 career saves and nine All-Star Game appearances, but none of that mattered on Thursday night. Going into Game 3, the 35-year-old hadn't allowed a run in four postseason appearances in October, but again, none of that mattered.
Phillies fans were feeling antsy about Kimbrel entering in a dangerous spot during a clutch situation and for rightful reasons. Kimbrel came on at the bottom of the ninth with the game tied 1-1, The D-Backs had runners on first and third and no outs. Was Rob Thomson really going to put Kimbrel in a non-save situation with Game 3 on the line? Yes, yes he was.
Kimbrel had one job: to secure the tie, and move the game into extra innings. He almost immediately walked the leadoff batter. He allowed two hits and one run and had two walks in 0.1 innings pitched.
No longer a lights-out closer, Kimbrel showed his true hand on Thursday. The Phillies just have to swallow this unfortunate lineup choice and move on.
Orion Kerkering
Rob Thomson made a gutsy move to put in rookie Orion Kerkering to replace Jeff Hoffman at the top of the seventh inning.
Based on Kerkering's fantastic performance against the Braves last series, this move made some sense. It just didn't pan out like the Phillies hoped it would.
After just a handful of pitches, Kerkering gave up two singles and a double with no outs. It quickly became clear that his short stint was catching fire; Jose Alvarado extinguished the flames with a dominant eighth inning to prevent the D-Backs from taking the lead.
Next time, the Phillies may think twice before sending out the rookie into precarious spots. Kerkering proved his value other times this postseason, so perhaps this was just a flukey performance. Still, Kerkering showed some concerning flaws against the D-Backs, like being unable to execute pitches against righties.
The offense -- Just like, everybody
After a 10-0 beatdown at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies came up with a whole lot of nothing in Game 3.
The scoreboards will show the Phillies got at least one run, but the team could very well have been shut out tonight -- Bryce Harper's lone score came off a wild pitch.
It's really unfortunate that the Phillies offense was anemic this game when their sicko fans went through all that trouble to buy out seats at Chase Field and not show up to create a cricket-chirping environment for the home team. Well, somehow, some way, that plan backfired.
Harper failed to record a hit all game. Trea Turner got one. Nick Castellanos -- the famous Nick Castellanos -- felt his clutch playoff gene mysteriously vanish into thin air. No awkward post-game interviews this time.
When the offense gets three hits total, it's difficult to blame pitchers, even pitchers like Craig Kimbrel.
Philly's hot hands went cold, and that's all you can say about that.
Good news for Phillies fans is that the team tends to thrive the most from adversity. They'll get punched in the face and then play some of the best baseball anyone has ever seen. All they need is a bit of D-Backs' clubhouse footage of someone saying, "Atta boy, Harper," and they're off to the World Series.
