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It’s a series after all: Phillies bullpen stumbles, as Diamondbacks get back into the NLCS with walk-off win

Arizona rookie Brandon Pfaadt was surprisingly dominant, and Ketel Marte drove in the winning run to trim the Phillies’ series lead to 2-1.

Phillies pitcher Craig Kimbrel walks off the field after losing to the Diamondbacks on a walk-off hit by Ketel Marte in Game 3 of the NLCS at Chase Field.
Phillies pitcher Craig Kimbrel walks off the field after losing to the Diamondbacks on a walk-off hit by Ketel Marte in Game 3 of the NLCS at Chase Field.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

PHOENIX — Craig Kimbrel turned and looked, if only for a split second.

With the score tied, the bases loaded, one out, and the Diamondbacks’ toughest hitter to strike out at the plate in the ninth inning, the Phillies closer uncorked a fastball that wound up in the center-field grass.

Ballgame over.

Series on.

Ketel Marte punched the walk-off hit that clipped the Phillies, 2-1, in the desert Thursday in the third game of a National League Championship Series that also stands at 2-1, with Game 4 — and Cristopher Sánchez’s first start since (checks notes) Sept. 24 — set for Friday night.

“I felt like I made some pitches to try to get us out of it,” Kimbrel said after the Phillies’ mighty offense mustered only three hits, struck out 13 times, and scored its run on a wild pitch, of all things. “Some days you get ‘em, some days you don’t. Today just wasn’t that day.”

OK, so that’s how it ended. But before that, it was a second-guesser’s delight — and not just for those D’backs fans among the bipartisan crowd of 47,075 who booed throatily in the sixth inning when Arizona manager Torey Lovullo took the ball from a rookie starter who was twirling a gem.

There was plenty to go around for Phillies manager Rob Thomson, too.

  1. Should he have lifted icy-cool starter Ranger Suárez (career postseason ERA: 0.94) at the first hint of trouble in the sixth inning?

  2. Did he choose the right time to unleash rookie reliever Orion Kerkering in his biggest spot yet — the seventh inning with a 1-0 lead?

  3. Is Kimbrel, for all of his 417 career saves, the best choice in the ninth inning of a tie game on the road?

» READ MORE: Hayes: Rob Thomson blew Game 3 for the Phillies when he brought in rookie Orion Kerkering

In the midst of it all, it was impossible not to recognize the opportunity that the Phillies let slip.

Of the 38 teams that seized a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven postseason series, 37 wound up winning. And although the odds are still with the Phillies (37 of 50 teams that lost Game 3 after winning the first two games still won the series), things seem less hopeless now for the Diamondbacks.

“Just got to move on as quick as possible,” Bryce Harper said. “We’re going to have to. We’re here at their place. I thought they played a good game today.”

Kerkering, drafted out of college only 16 months ago, got called up in late September after climbing four levels of the minors this season. Ever since, Thomson has maintained that he’s unafraid of using the 22-year-old with a game on the line. But Kerkering has pitched mostly in lower-leverage situations in the postseason.

This time, after Harper’s dash home from third base broke a scoreless stalemate, Kerkering came on to face the Diamondbacks’ No. 5-7 hitters. And after striking out Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the ninth inning of Game 2 in Philadelphia, they got him back in Game 3.

“Everything was there, [but] just over the plate,” Kerkering said after Pham punched a single to right field and Gurriel drove home pinch-runner Alek Thomas from first base with a double down the line in left. “Not going to go too crazy with it.”

» READ MORE: Murphy: The Phillies deserved to lose this one. It took them a while, but they did.

Did it matter that Pham and Gurriel had a look at Kerkering two nights earlier?

“Same situation, same scouting report,” Kerkering said. “Just keep attacking them with my strengths and their weaknesses. Nothing changes.”

Including, according to Thomson, the Phillies’ confidence in the kid.

“The moment is not too big for him,” Thomson said. “He just didn’t execute a couple of pitches on the right-handed hitters.”

Kimbrel’s issues were familiar. He threw a first-pitch ball to three of five batters, including Gurriel, who drew a leadoff walk. The Diamondbacks, who haven’t run as often as expected, capitalized on Kimbrel’s slow move to the plate when Gurriel swiped second base.

“It always tightens it up a little bit with the stolen base,” Kimbrel said.

Before the Phillies worked out here Wednesday, Kimbrel talked about the importance of regrouping more quickly on the mound, especially after a leadoff walk. Notably, he cited the need to “take a breath, lock back in, get the job done, and not say, ‘Hey, where are my mechanics? Why am I doing this? Why am I doing that?’”

But Kimbrel never quite regained control after Gurriel’s walk. He gave up an infield hit to Pavin Smith, and after the Phillies brought the infield in and cut down the go-ahead run at home plate on a perfect peg from Trea Turner, Kimbrel walked Geraldo Perdomo to load the bases.

And then Marte lined a 96 mph fastball to center field.

“He just couldn’t find the zone consistently,” Thomson said of Kimbrel, the choice in the ninth inning in part because José Alvarado already pitched. “Sometimes that happens to Kim.”

As the NLCS went west, the atmospherics changed. It was 100 degrees at first pitch (thank heavens for a retractable roof). Ticket prices plummeted. The crowd went from ear-shattering to ordinary.

Oh, and the Phillies stopped hitting.

After roughing up Arizona co-aces Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly in the first two games, they were muted by a rookie righty named Brandon Pfaadt. Jot down his name. You’ll hear it again.

Pfaadt (pronounced “fought”) unleashed his fastball-sweeper-sinker mix and plowed through the hottest offense in the postseason, racking up nine strikeouts in 5⅔ walk-free innings.

» READ MORE: The Phillies will have a pool party if they close out the NLCS at Chase Field

The thing is, the Diamondbacks have a formula with Pfaadt. Lovullo described it as “18 [batters], plus or minus four.” It means that they allow Pfaadt to face a lineup only twice, a strategy supported by hitters going 27-for-68 with eight doubles, six homers, and an 1.193 OPS when they faced him for a third time.

So, how come it felt like Lovullo was doing the Phillies a favor when he took the ball from Pfaadt after only 70 pitches and with two out in the sixth inning of a scoreless game?

Thomson may have returned it by taking out Suárez at 69 pitches with one out in the sixth. But the bullpen has dominated thus far in the postseason. It’s doubtful the Phillies’ confidence in their relievers, including Kerkering, will fade now.

“The dude’s nasty,” left fielder Brandon Marsh said. “We want him in any situation.”

Said Kimbrel: “It always [stinks] to lose, but we played a tough game. We’ve got to come [Friday] and expect to win.”

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