PHOENIX — You can point to Craig Kimbrel, you can point to Orion Kerkering, you can point to Rob Thomson's decision to use Kerkering when he did, but the primary reason why the Phillies lost Game 3 of the NLCS to the Diamondbacks was the lineup's silence.
Both starting pitchers — Ranger Suarez and Brandon Pfaadt — were excellent, carrying their teams into the sixth inning without allowing a run.
Neither team made a defensive mistake — in fact, the Phillies made four enormous plays in the field over the final four innings that nearly helped them eke out a win.
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But an offense that averaged 5.8 runs and slugged 19 homers in its first eight playoff games was held to one run that scored on a wild pitch and one extra-base hit, a Brandon Marsh double in the third inning. The Phils struck out 13 times in a 2-1, walk-off loss.
"Not lack of focus, I can tell you that," Thomson said. "These guys were locked in today coming into the ballpark, and all the work was really good. I think Pfaadt pitched very well. And we saw a couple of guys we haven't seen so far in the playoffs with (Kevin) Ginkel, (Paul) Sewald and (Ryan) Thompson.
"Just have to dust yourself off and come back tomorrow, and that's what this team does."
The Phillies hadn't had a night this quiet in over a month. They'd been held to one run or fewer only once in their last 32 games, and they responded by scoring 23 in the next four.
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"Not many pitches in the middle of the plate, you maybe got one pitch to hit per at-bat," Trea Turner said of Pfaadt.
On Friday, the Diamondbacks are going with left-handed opener Joe Mantiply in a bullpen game, which should give the Phils a chance to regroup offensively, but their Game 3 matchup looked juicy on paper, as well. Pfaadt had a 5.72 ERA during the regular season. His opponents hit .282. Righties slugged .533 and lefties slugged .534.
But his command was on point against the Phillies and he struck out nine. The Phils' 13 strikeouts were their most since September 21. There were only three games all season they struck out at least 13 times and scored no more than a run.
"I thought he threw the ball really well," said Bryce Harper, the only Phillie to cross the plate. "That's the first time a lot of us have seen him. That's always tough. Pitchers' duel throughout that whole game. They were able to capitalize on stuff we weren't able to capitalize on. Both guys threw really well. Sometimes it happens.
"We're here at their place. They played a really good game today. Both sides, good defense, good pitching, just got to move on as quickly as possible."
The Phillies are too experienced at this point to overreact to one lackluster game at the plate. As Nick Castellanos said last week after they lost the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS in Atlanta, they "thrive after getting punched in the face." It's a veteran club that has shown up and performed after tough losses since June 2022 and is confident it will do so Friday at Chase Field.
"We've done it all year," Turner said, "so just another day."