PHOENIX — Ice water was doused on the hottest offense going this postseason as the Phillies lost, 2-1, to the Diamondbacks Thursday in Game 3 of the NLCS on Ketel Marte's walk-off single.
It's a series again.
The game was scoreless until the top of the seventh, when the Phillies took a lead as Bryce Harper walked, advanced to third with two outs and scored on a wild pitch.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Needing nine more outs to take a commanding 3-0 series lead, Phillies manager Rob Thomson went to Orion Kerkering for the bottom of the seventh. The 22-year-old rookie, called up for the first time in late September, had not allowed an earned run in seven major-league appearances between the regular season and playoffs.
He didn't have it in this game, allowing a single, RBI double and single to the only three hitters he faced. Jose Alvarado relieved him with runners on the corners and nobody out and ended the seventh inning on just three pitches. Alvarado's scoreless eighth kept the game right where it was, but Craig Kimbrel loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before Marte's game-winning line drive.
Kimbrel, who said afterward that it just wasn’t his day, walked two in the inning. He walked multiple batters only six times this season, and those six appearances accounted for one-third of the runs he allowed.
The D-backs started Brandon Pfaadt, a rookie right-hander with a 5.72 ERA in the regular season. He completely shut the Phillies down with 5⅔ scoreless innings, nine strikeouts and just two hard-hit balls.
Philadelphia Phillies
Pfaadt was coming off of 4⅓ scoreless innings against the Dodgers in the NLDS so this performance wasn't totally out of the blue, but it was still a surprise against a Phillies lineup that has hit pretty much every pitcher its faced this month.
Pfaadt was only expected to throw 50 or so pitches, but he had the game under such control that he was extended to 70. Manager Torey Lovullo pulled him with two outs in the top of the sixth as Kyle Schwarber came to the plate for the third time. The Phillies were happy to see him exit, but they were unable to muster any offense against the final three relievers they faced, Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald.
After scoring 15 runs and homering six times in the first two games of the NLCS, the Phillies were held to three hits Thursday. Brandon Marsh's third-inning double was their only extra-base hit.
Ranger Suarez matched Pfaadt with 5⅓ scoreless innings. He exited with Marte, by far the D-backs’ best hitter in the series, on third base but Jeff Hoffman struck out No. 3 hitter Gabriel Moreno and grounded out Christian Walker to put out the fire.
This was the first time in Suarez' eight playoff appearances that the Phillies lost. It was no fault of his own. The lefty has a 0.94 ERA in the postseason.
The Phillies made several enormous defensive plays. Suarez darted off the mound to cover first base with a runner on second and nobody out in the sixth. Harper dove to his right and missed the grounder from Corbin Carroll, one of the majors' fastest runners, but Bryson Stott fielded it and Suarez just beat Carroll to the bag. At the time, it looked like a game-saving play.
In the seventh, the D-backs had runners on the corners with nobody out when Alvarado entered. His second pitch to Emmanuel Rivera resulted in a ground ball to shortstop Trea Turner, who looked Gurriel back to third base yet still had enough time to start a 6-4-3 double play.
In the eighth, Carroll crushed a line drive 109 mph to the warning track in right-center and Johan Rojas corralled it.
In the ninth, Turner cut down the game-winning run at the plate when runners were on the corners with nobody out.
They were winning plays, but the Phillies didn't win the game. Simply put, they didn't hit. They weren't no-hit, but it was a similar response to the 2022 World Series when they homered five times in Game 3 and did nothing the next night.
The Diamondbacks were looking for any way to back into the NLCS. Now, it's on the Phillies to ensure the momentum doesn't shift.