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Can Eovaldi Bring It Home?

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  1. PHOENIX — The Texas Rangers are one win away from their first World Series title, and they will ask Nathan Eovaldi to finish off the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 5 on Wednesday. Texas grabbed a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with an 11-7 win in Game 4 on Tuesday, as leadoff hitter Marcus Semien contributed a three-run homer and a two-run triple.
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The Rangers took the 48,388 fans out of the game early with five-run innings in the second and third. The Diamondbacks scored six runs in the last two innings but still fell far short.

Texas, which is a record 10-0 on the road in the postseason, will look to complete a perfect away run behind Eovaldi. The veteran right-hander is 4-0 with a 3.52 ERA over five postseason starts, with 36 strikeouts and five walks in 30 2/3 innings.

Eovaldi allowed five runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings in Game 1, which Texas won 6-5 in 11 innings. He fanned eight and walked one.

“I try to play to my strengths. At the same time, I try to learn from my mistakes I had,” Eovaldi said. “So coming in this next start against these guys, I’ll be pitching a little differently. But at the same time, just continue to use my strengths and attack their weaknesses.”

In eight career regular-season appearances (five starts) against the Diamondbacks, Eovaldi is 3-0 with a 2.78 ERA.

To fight off elimination and try to send the series back to Texas for at least a Game 6, the Diamondbacks will turn to their ace, Zac Gallen. The right-hander has not been as sharp in the postseason as he was in the regular season, going 2-2 with a 5.27 ERA in five October starts. He has given up six home runs and walked 13 batters while striking out 18 in 27 1/3 innings.

Gallen was in line for a Game 1 win after throwing five innings of three-run ball, but the Arizona bullpen couldn’t finish off the Rangers.

“For me, I’m treating it just like it’s May, honestly,” Gallen said of the Game 5 assignment. “And I don’t know … hopefully this isn’t the last time I’m experiencing this and this heavy of a workload, this late of a workload.

“I’m still trying to get better each day, really. I just threw like a 35-pitch bullpen (session) Monday, where I think some people might try and taper it off, keep that in the 20s or whatever it is. But I’m still trying to work on things, still trying to get better.

“Until the final bell rings, I’m going to keep plugging away and keep seeing what the deal is with my delivery and all types of different things, feels and whatnot. I mean, it’s maybe not the greatest thing to be throwing as much as I am, but it’s what makes me feel prepared and what eases me mentally.”

The Rangers will have to go the rest of the World Series without injured slugger Adolis Garcia, who racked up eight home runs and 22 RBIs in the postseason. Travis Jankowski took Garcia’s place in right field on Tuesday and delivered a two-run double and a single. Ezequiel Duran replaced Garcia on the World Series roster.

Garcia is sidelined due to an oblique strain he sustained in Game 3.

Texas right-hander Max Scherzer also won’t be available. His back spasms in Game 3 forced his removal from the roster, with left-handed reliever Brock Burke taking his place.

Burke yielded three runs and got just one out in Game 4, his first appearance since he gave up two runs in one-third of an inning in Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Baltimore Orioles.

Injuries aside, the Rangers are in a good place entering Game 5.

“Going out there and doing all you can to win a ballgame, and that’s where we have to be thinking,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s where our minds have to be.”

–Jose M. Romero, Field Level Media

TEXAS COAST

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PHOENIX — Texas SP Andrew Heaney, on his fourth team in three seasons, helped his latest club move to the brink of a World Series championship. The left-hander gave the Rangers a solid start in Game 4 on Tuesday, and Texas rolled to an 11-7 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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The Rangers dominated, even though they let the Diamondbacks make it interesting in the late innings, to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Texas is one victory away from its first World Series crown.

“It’s awesome,” Heaney said after earning a win with five innings of one-run ball. “You know, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career, been on a bunch of different teams and never had this opportunity, obviously. I just want to win the game. I want us to win, and we did that, and we’re in obviously a great position and need to finish it off.”

The Rangers supported Heaney (1-0) by exploding for consecutive five-run innings in the second and third, turning the Halloween contest into a nightmare for the Diamondbacks and their fans.

Marcus Semien, who entered the game batting .197 in the postseason, hit a two-run triple in the second inning and a three-run homer in the third. Corey Seager struck again with his third two-run homer of the World Series, his sixth postseason long ball.

Jonah Heim added a solo home run in the eighth, his third blast of the postseason.

Texas won its 10th consecutive postseason road game, the longest winning streak of its kind in major league playoff history. Another road win in Game 5 on Wednesday would seal the title.

In a bullpen game for Arizona, the Rangers knocked around relievers Miguel Castro, Kyle Nelson and Luis Frias, all of whom allowed three runs without lasting one full inning. Castro yielded Semien’s triple in the second, Nelson served up Seager’s homer in the second and Frias gave up Travis Jankowski’s two-run double and Semien’s home run in the third.

Heaney yielded four hits, walked two and struck out three, leaving with a 10-1 lead. His effort helped the Texas bullpen get extra rest.

The Rangers lost two key players to injuries sustained in Game 3, as right fielder Adolis Garcia (strained oblique muscle) and Game 3 starting pitcher Max Scherzer (back spasms) were removed from the World Series roster. However, Texas didn’t miss the power-hitting Garcia, who had 20 hits, eight home runs and 22 RBIs in the postseason.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys, how they bounce back, how resilient they are, how they dealt with things, whether it’s losing streaks, whether it’s injuries,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “You can’t do anything about it. They’re gonna happen occasionally.”

The Diamondbacks scored their first run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. They added four runs in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Tommy Pham and Gurriel’s three-run home run, and they didn’t go quietly in the ninth, when Gabriel Moreno hit a two-run single off Texas closer Jose Leclerc.

Ketel Marte, the Diamondbacks’ best hitter in the postseason, had two hits to increase his postseason hitting streak to 20 games, the longest such streak in major league history. But Arizona is on the brink of defeat.

“You commit to the plan and the process for 27 outs,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “And you close the game up to 11-7, got the fans engaged, got a ton of energy, you got their closer in the game.

“There’s a lot of positives to draw upon, and I will, but we gotta tighten up the things we know that went wrong. And we’ll do that. And then we’ll come out tomorrow and we gotta go 1-0 tomorrow. We gotta be ready to play our finest game tomorrow and not worry about anything else.”

Diamondbacks opener Joe Mantiply (2-1) took the loss after allowing one run in 1 1/3 innings.

–Jose M. Romero, Field Level Media

Garcia, Scherzer Out for Series

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PHOENIX – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Texas Rangers slugger Adolis Garcia has a moderate oblique strain and he, along with starting pitcher Max Scherzer, will miss the remainder of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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Garcia left the Rangers’ Game 3 victory in the eighth inning after experiencing side tightness following a swing. He underwent imaging on his torso before Game 4, allowing the team to diagnose the strain.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters Garcia tried to take some swings and was “on the table getting further evaluation” with less than three hours before first pitch.

An hour before Game 4, Texas decided to replace both Garcia and Scherzer, who suffered back spasms during his start Monday, for the remainder of the series.

Garcia will be replaced by infielder/outfielder Ezequiel Duran and Scherzer will be replaced by left-handed pitcher Brock Burke.

In accordance with MLB rules, both Garcia and Scherzer will be ineligible to return for the rest of the World Series.

For Tuesday, Travis Jankowski drew the start in right field in Garcia’s place and will bat ninth. Designated hitter Mitch Garver moved up from the fifth spot in the lineup to the third.

Garcia hit the game-winning home run in the 11th inning of Game 1. He had already set the record for most RBIs in a single postseason (22).

Scherzer left his Game 3 start with what the Rangers called back tightness. He said after the game his back “went into full spasm.”

Scherzer, a trade deadline acquisition from the New York Mets, would have been in line to start a potential Game 7 if healthy.

–Field Level Media

Diamond (Bounce) Backs

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PHOENIX – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Texas Rangers look to grab a commanding 3-1 advantage tonight when they face the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4 of the World Series at Chase Field.

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Texas took Game 3 Monday night 3-1 on the strength of its pitching and a two-run home run from Corey Seager, the one-time World Series MVP’s second two-run home run of this series.

Pitchers Max Scherzer, Jon Gray, Josh Sborz, Aroldis Chapman and Jose Leclerc held the Diamondbacks to a run on six hits. Arizona had scored a combined 14 runs in the first two games of the series.

Game 4 looks like a bullpen game for both teams. Left-hander Andrew Heaney (0-0) is set to make his third start and fifth appearance for the Rangers this postseason, with six innings pitched and four runs allowed on seven hits thus far.

Heaney has a 6.00 earned run average and opponents are batting .292 against him this postseason. Heaney went 10-6 with a 4.15 ERA in the regular season and made 28 starts, with nine wins as a starter.

The Diamondbacks counter with lefty Joe Mantiply, an All-Star in 2022 who made his first career World Series appearance in Game 1. He pitched a scoreless inning.

Mantiply is 2-0 with a 4.26 ERA over eight career postseason appearances (all this season). He did not allow an earned run over his last six games of the regular season (8 1/3 innings) and had a 1.38 ERA over 10 games in September.

The Rangers have opened the postseason with nine consecutive road wins, tying a Major League Baseball record.

“We’re just showing up to play every day. We’re trying to win that day. No matter where you are, we’re trying to play good baseball every day,” Seager said. “I don’t know how to credit it to anything other than that, really.”

The Rangers hope to have a healthy Adolis Garcia back in the lineup on Tuesday after he left Monday’s game with left side tightness. Garcia hit a walk-off home run in Game 1, giving the slugger eight in the postseason, and he has also driven in 22 runs.

“We’re being optimistic there but we’ll know more tomorrow,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of Garcia after Game 3.

The Diamondbacks come off their first World Series game at their home ballpark in 22 years. They won the World Series in 2001, the franchise’s only championship.

Arizona is 16-10 at home in the postseason all time.

Second baseman Ketel Marte has hit safely in each of his first 19 postseason games, the longest streak in MLB postseason history. He has 22 hits.

“At the end of the day we do have to be better. I think our offense is very capable against any type of pitching, whether it’s a reliever or starter. We just got beat. We got beat. We got maybe out-executed. And we’ve got to figure that out,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said after Game 3.

The Diamondbacks used Kyle Nelson, Miguel Castro, Luis Frias and Andrew Saalfrank out of their bullpen in Game 3. That should leave them with their top relievers rested and available for Game 4 after Mantiply departs.

Ryne Nelson, Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel and closer Paul Sewald are in line to pitch in Game 4, especially in a close game.

–Jose M. Romero, Field Level Media

2023 World Series: Scherzer for Game 3

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PHOENIX – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Veteran right-hander Max Scherzer will take the ball for Game 3 of the World Series tonight when the Texas Rangers visit the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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It will be the third start of the postseason for Scherzer, who missed five-plus weeks with a teres major muscle injury in his pitching shoulder before making two starts in the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros.

Scherzer (0-1, 9.45 ERA this postseason) pitched just 6 2/3 innings in the two starts, but Texas manager Bruce Bochy is confident the three-time Cy Young Award winner can pitch deeper into the game this time.

“I think so. He could give us length,” Bochy said of Scherzer on Saturday. “I’ve talked to him about this. He’s comfortable pretty much throwing like he normally does. Maybe not quite as long as he’s been over 100 pitches, whatever, but pretty close.”

Scherzer is 7-8 with a 3.86 ERA in 29 career postseason appearances (24 starts). He is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in three World Series starts. Scherzer, 39, initially was a first-round draft choice by the Diamondbacks in 2006 and pitched a year in the majors for Phoenix in 2008-09 before being traded to the Detroit Tigers.

At Chase Field, he is 11-8 with a 3.86 ERA 29 appearances (25 starts), with 175 strikeouts in 156 1/3 innings.

Arizona named rookie right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (0-0, 2.70) as its Game 3 starter. Arizona has won all four of Pfaadt’s starts this postseason.

–Field Level Media

Ketel, Kelly Power DBacks; Even Series

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DALLAS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Arizona SP Merrill Kelly went seven strong innings, while teammate Ketel Marte set a major league record by extending his playoff hitting streak to 18 games and the Arizona Diamondbacks got even in the World Series with a 9-1 victory over the Texas Rangers in Game 2 on Saturday at Arlington, Texas.

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Gabriel Moreno hit a home run, Tommy Pham had four hits and Corbin Carroll drove in a pair of runs on two hits for Arizona. Marte’s record-breaking hit was a two-run single in the eighth inning that gave Arizona a five-run lead.

Kelly (3-1) gave up one run on three hits with no walks and nine strikeouts and lowered his postseason ERA to 2.25 across 24 innings.

Arizona bounced back after a heartbreaking defeat in Game 1 when Texas’ Corey Seager hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning and Adolis Garcia hit a game-winning homer in the 11th.

After giving up two runs over six innings, Rangers starter Jordan Montgomery (3-1) was allowed to start the seventh, where he was charged with two more runs.

Mitch Garver hit a home run for the Rangers, who fell to 2-4 at home in the playoffs.

The series now shifts to Phoenix for Games 3, 4 and 5 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Arizona is 3-1 at home in the playoffs.

Moreno broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with a solo shot to center field, his fourth home run of the playoffs. Christian Walker followed by grounding out to third base on a spectacular diving stop by Rangers third baseman Josh Jung, which failed to shift the momentum.

Pham then doubled for Arizona and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

Kelly was rolling early, not giving up his first hit until the Rangers’ Evan Carter smacked a single with two outs in the fourth inning. Garver brought Texas within a run at 2-1 with his homer in the fifth inning, his third of the playoffs.

The D-backs got to Montgomery quickly in the seventh with an Alek Thomas leadoff double and an RBI single from Evan Longoria. Left-hander Andrew Heaney replaced Montgomery, with Carroll delivering a two-out RBI single for a 4-1 advantage.

Marte’s two-run single in the eighth scored Pham and Emmanuel Rivera to give him 11 RBIs in the playoffs. Carroll added an RBI single in the inning for his 10th postseason RBI. Rivera plated two more with a single in the ninth.

–Field Level Media

Don’t Mess with Texas

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DALLAS – Corey Seager belted a game-tying, two-run homer in the ninth inning and Adolis Garcia went deep in the 11th to give the Texas Rangers a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday in Arlington, Texas.

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Arizona’s Paul Sewald converted all six of his previous save opportunities in the postseason before starting the ninth inning by issuing a walk to Leody Taveras. Seager stepped up two batters later and deposited a first-pitch fastball over the wall in right field to forge a 5-5 tie.

The homer was Seager’s fourth of this postseason and the fourth of his career during the World Series.

Jose Leclerc (1-1) retired the side in order in both the 10th and 11th innings to set the stage for the Rangers.

Miguel Castro (0-1) replaced Kyle Nelson with one out in the 11th and saw Garcia take his 3-1 sinker over the wall in right field. Garcia’s eighth homer of the postseason pushed his RBI total to 22, eclipsing David Freese (2011) for the most in one postseason in major league history.

Texas’ Evan Carter smacked an RBI double and scored on Garcia’s RBI single in the first inning.

Garcia had three hits, Carter and Josh Jung each had two for the Rangers, who snapped a three-game home losing skid. They will look to continue their momentum at home on Saturday in Game 2.

Arizona’s Corbin Carroll ripped a two-run triple in the third inning and scored on Ketel Marte’s fielder’s-choice grounder. Marte wasn’t done, as he smashed an RBI double in the fifth to extend his career postseason hitting streak to 17 games — matching the major league record shared by Hank Bauer (1956-58), Derek Jeter (1998-99) and Manny Ramirez (2003-04).

Tommy Pham homered to lead off the fourth inning and Alek Thomas had two hits for the Diamondbacks, who lost for just the second time in their past six games.

Carroll, who had a National League-best 10 triples this season, ripped a tied the game 2-2 with his triple in the third. The speedy Carroll then beat the throw home from first baseman Nathaniel Lowe on Marte’s grounder.

Mitch Garver worked a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the third before Pham deposited a 1-0 fastball from Nathan Eovaldi over the wall in left field to start the fourth. Pham’s homer was his third of the postseason and second in three games.

–Field Level Media

Where Have You Gone, Nathan Eovaldi?

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DALLAS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Texas Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi could etch his name in the record books on Friday when he takes the mound for Game 1 of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Arlington, Texas.

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Eovaldi (4-0, 2.42 ERA) is aiming to become the first pitcher to win five starts in the playoffs. Randy Johnson (2001), Francisco Rodriguez (2002) and Stephen Strasburg (2019) have recorded five wins in a single postseason, but each of the three pocketed a victory in relief.

Eovaldi, 33, allowed two runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings in a 9-2 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday. The Texas native has struck out 28 batters against just four walks in 26 innings in the postseason.

Although Eovaldi is making his first career start in a World Series, it’s not his only appearance in the Fall Classic. He made three relief appearances with the Boston Red Sox in the 2018 World Series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He was the loser of the epic 18-inning Game 3 when he served up Max Muncy’s walk-off homer. Eovaldi allowed two runs (one earned) and three hits in six-plus innings of relief in that game.

“Obviously I’m very grateful for the past experiences. Just being able to participate and get into the World Series was big. I kind of had my moment there,” Eovaldi said on Thursday.

“But coming in, having Game 1, trying to set a tone for the team, there’s a lot of pressure with that, but also a lot of excitement. But definitely ready for this opportunity to go out there, compete against a really good lineup.”

Eovaldi owns a 3-0 mark with a 2.78 ERA in eight career appearances (five starts) against the Diamondbacks.

National League Championships Series MVP Ketel Marte carries a 16-game hitting streak in the postseason into Friday’s opener. Another hit on Friday will put Marte with Manny Ramirez, Derek Jeter and Hank Bauer as the lone players to notch a hit in 17 consecutive playoff games.

Marte went 6-for-14 and joined Christian Walker in belting three homers to help the Diamondbacks win three of four games against the Rangers this season.

Arizona will hand the ball to right-hander Zac Gallen (2-2, 5.24), who’ll try to turn the page from a pair of tough outings in the National League Championship Series when he makes his World Series debut.

Gallen, 28, permitted nine runs on 14 hits — including five homers — over 11 innings in a pair of losses to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS.

“I think for me I said it after the two starts, just lack of execution, really,” Gallen said. “So for me, just trying to execute a little bit better and give us a chance to win, really.

“No secret, I feel like I didn’t help the guys that much. So I’m looking to try and pull my weight this time around.”

The Diamondbacks, however, overcame Gallen’s troubles to dispatch Philadelphia in seven games and advance to their second World Series appearance in franchise history. That’s not too shabby considering some questioned the legitimacy of an 84-win team while certain Phillies players threatened to have a pool party at Chase Field.

“When we hear those things, they’re out there,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “… And we just put it on our list and keep those receipts and walk around with a little bit more of a chip on our shoulder. It gives you a little bit more motivation. And when you can get a little bit more, you take it.”

Texas manager Bruce Bochy said he wasn’t using a perceived underdog mentality as motivation.

“We really didn’t talk about it. We weren’t concerned with what people thought of us,” Bochy said. “We thought we were good. We thought we belonged and we thought we could win and that’s how we looked at it.”

Gallen struck out 11 batters and allowed one run in six innings of a 6-3 victory over Texas on Aug. 22. He is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA in three career starts vs. the Rangers.

Gallen will need to tread carefully around ALCS MVP Adolis Garcia and Corey Seager. Garcia went 10-for-28 (.357) with five homers and 15 RBIs in the ALCS, while Seager is 15-for-45 (.333) with three homers, six RBIs and 12 runs during the postseason.

–Field Level Media

Diamondbacks Are for REAL

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PHILADELPHIA — The Arizona Diamondbacks won nine games during a six-week span from early July through mid-August. On Tuesday night, the Diamondbacks won their ninth game of the 2023 postseason — and became one of the most unlikely World Series participants of all-time.

Az’s rookie outfielder Corbin Carroll snapped out of his slump by collecting three hits and two RBIs as the Diamondbacks advanced to the World Series by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series.

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The Diamondbacks, who overcame two-games-to-none and three-games-to-two deficits in the NLCS, will visit the American League champion Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night. Arizona is seeking its second championship while Texas is looking to win it all for the first time.

“We just have a tremendous group of players that work really hard,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said on TBS following the win. “We’ve got some more work left to do. We’re going to go down to Texas and see what we can do there, too.”

Ketel Marte earned NLCS MVP honors after hitting .387 (12-for-31) and extending his postseason hitting streak to 16 games, tied for the fourth-longest streak in playoff history.

The Phillies, with five players on $100 million deals on their roster, fell one win shy of their second straight NL pennant. Philadelphia reached the World Series as the sixth seed in the Senior Circuit last year — just as Arizona this year.

“It is disappointing,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s tough to get back to this position two years in a row. It is. But (our players) fought like hell to get here and we came up short. That’s baseball sometimes.”

Arizona, two years removed from going 52-110 and coming off a 74-88 performance in 2022, reached the World Series after going 84-78 in the regular season. That’s the third-worst record for a Fall Classic participant in a full season behind only the 1973 New York Mets (82-79) and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (83-78).

“Trust me when I say there were some real hardships — there were some very dark days in my career,” seventh-year Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “So for me to sit here and tell you that I wouldn’t trade that in — if you told me that I would be coming out the other side of it like this, I would understand why I was having to go through that.”

The Diamondbacks went 9-25 from July 2 through Aug. 13, the worst 34-game stretch ever for a team that made the playoffs. Arizona was 59-60 and 3 1/2 games out of the final NL wild-card spot on Aug. 14 but went 25-18 thereafter to leapfrog the San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs and clinch a playoff berth on Sept. 30 — the penultimate day of the season.

“Some long nights for all of us, players and coaches,” Carroll said on TBS following the win. “Just wanted to find a way to get the job done. But we came out of it better, we really did.”

The Diamondbacks opened the playoffs with five straight wins over the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers before being outscored 15-3 by the Phillies in the first two games of the NLCS. But Arizona mounted comeback wins in Games 3 and 4 and bounced back from a 6-1 loss in Game 5 by trailing for just one half-inning in the final two games in Philadelphia.

Carroll, the lone Arizona player on a nine-figure deal and the likely NL Rookie of the Year, entered Tuesday hitting .130 (3-for-23) in the NLCS but scored in the first inning of Game 7. He singled with one out, took third on Gabriel Moreno’s single and came home when Christian Walker beat out a potential double-play grounder.

“Six games ago you would have said that I was the hottest hitter on the planet, right?” said Carroll, who batted .412 (7-for-17) with two homers in the sweeps of the Brewers and Dodgers. “I think it’s easy to get caught up in the day and get caught up in just the minute — but just realizing that that’s all it is. It’s just a little hitch of things not going your way. That was kind of my mindset.

“In the end, I think everything evens out eventually.”

Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm homered off Brandon Pfaadt — a rookie who posted a 5.72 ERA in the regular season — leading off the second for the Phillies, who took the lead when Bohm walked with one out in the fourth and scored on Bryson Stott’s double.

But Philadelphia left the bases loaded in the inning, symbolizing a robust offense gone cold at the most inopportune time. The Phillies scored 15 runs in the final five games.

“That’s the ebbs and flows of offense,” Thomson said, “People aren’t going to hit every single day of the season. It’s just not going to happen.”

The Diamondbacks immediately retook the lead in the fifth, when Emmanuel Rivera led off with a single against Ranger Suarez (1-1), moved to second on Geraldo Perdomo’s bunt and scored on Carroll’s two-out single. Carroll stole second base on the first pitch Jeff Hoffman threw and scored when Moreno singled two pitches later.

Kyle Schwarber greeted Joe Mantiply in the bottom half with a double — the only hit the Phillies recorded in five innings against five Diamondbacks relievers — but he was stranded on second. Ryan Thompson (1-0) retired all four batters he faced.

Arizona added an insurance run in the seventh, when Perdomo singled off reliever Jose Alvarado, raced to third on Marte’s double and scored on Carroll’s sacrifice fly.

Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel inherited a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom of the seventh and retired all five batters he faced. He struck out the side in the eighth before Paul Sewald notched the save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Sewald got pinch hitter Jake Cave to fly out to Carroll in right and set off a raucous on-field celebration at otherwise silent Citizens Bank Park. It was Sewald’s fifth save of the postseason.

“Better squeeze it,” Carroll said of his thoughts as the ball landed in his glove. “To be able to finally put it away and run towards that dog pile — man, just a hell of a feeling.”

–Field Level Media

Game 7: Texas at Houston

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HOUSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Four years ago, the improbable became reality when the Houston Astros lost Game 7 of the 2019 World Series 6-2 to the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park, capping the first postseason series in league history during which the road team claimed every contest in a seven-game set.

With Houston’s 9-2 loss to the Rangers on Sunday in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, the specter of a repeat of that dubious outcome grew exponentially when Texas forced a decisive Game 7 to be played today.

After producing a plus-11 run differential while sweeping Games 3-5 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, the Astros fell to 1-4 at home this postseason on the heels of posting a sub-.500 home record during the regular season.

An inability to produce in the clutch continues to plague the Astros, who finished 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position in Game 6 and are 2-for-17 in the ALCS at home in those situations. Houston loaded the bases with one out, trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, but failed to convert when Mauricio Dubon lined out to short and pinch hitter Jon Singleton struck out on Sunday.

“It’s disappointing,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker, who named right-hander Cristian Javier the starter for the series finale. “The name of the game is opportunities, and then after that, you hope that you come through. And, yeah, that was — that eighth inning where we had action, and especially with (Dubon) up there, this guy has been coming through all year long, and you know he’s going to make contact. And like I said, some days you just don’t get it done.”

Javier (2-0, 1.69 ERA this postseason) allowed two runs on three hits and one walk with three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in the Astros’ 8-5 victory in Game 3. Javier had not allowed a run in his three previous postseason starts and improved to 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA as a starter in the postseason.

Despite enduring an erratic season on the mound, Javier has maintained a levelheaded approach to his craft. With their season on the line, the Astros will require more of the same.

“My thought process is to stay positive and go out and just compete,” Javier said.

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The Rangers, who improved to 7-0 on the road this postseason, will counter with veteran right-hander Max Scherzer, who took the loss opposite Javier in Game 3 in what was his postseason debut for Texas and his first appearance since Sept. 12. Scherzer had been sidelined with a muscle strain in his shoulder before returning against the Astros and allowing five runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts over four innings.

Though Scherzer (0-1, 11.25) was adamant in the aftermath of that appearance that his arm was healthy, the Rangers are in a position to opt for alternative options should he scuffle after right-hander Nathan Eovaldi logged 6 1/3 innings on Sunday.

“Well, we have a full bullpen because of the job that Nate did,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “So, they’re all hands on deck, as they say. They’re all available. You look at matchups and things like that. But they’re all ready to go.”

Incidentally, Scherzer was the starting pitcher for the Nationals in that fateful Game 7 in 2019.

–MK Bower, Field Level Media

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