Philadelphia, which has emerged as the best ‘home run factory’ in the postseason, has won two consecutive games in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), taking one step closer to advancing to the World Series.
Philadelphia won 10-0 in the second game of the NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks held at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA on the 18th (Korean time). Philadelphia, which won two games in a row at home, took an overwhelming advantage in the best-of-seven NLCS. According to MLB.com, the Major League Baseball website, in previous postseason series held in a best-of-seven format, the team that won the first two wins won the final series 75 times out of 89, or about 84%.
Following the first game, Philadelphia neutralized the Arizona mound in the second game with three home runs. Trey Turner, who was showing off his batting average of .500 (14 hits in 28 at-bats) in this fall baseball until the first game of the NCLS, hit a cutter on the second pitch from Arizona’s starter Merrill Kelly, the ‘KBO League’s reverse export legend’, in a situation where there was no runner with one out in the bottom of the first inning. He attacked and fired a preemptive solo shot that went over the left-center wall.
In the third inning, Kyle Schwarber, who had hit a leadoff home run the previous day, fired a cannon for the second day in a row. In the bottom of the third inning, with two outs and no runners on base, Schwarber caught Kelly’s missed throw on the second pitch and hit a solo home run over the right-center wall.
Schwarber’s burning sense of hitting exploded once again in the 6th inning. Schwarber, who appeared as the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the 6th inning, hit Kelly’s 4th pitch changeup with the ball count 2-1, hitting a solo shot once again. Kelly, who allowed three home runs with a solo home run, later walked Turner, struck out Bryce Harper, handled Alec Bohm on a fly ball to shortstop, and handed the mound to Joe Mantipley.
When Arizona’s starting pitcher Kelly went down, the fire in Philadelphia’s batting lineup became even stronger. Brian Stutt put the 2nd and 3rd bases on with 2 outs and a stolen base, and JT Realmuto increased the score to 5-0 with a timely hit that brought in 2 runners. Arizona passed out Nick Castellanos, who has 5 home runs, the most in this fall baseball, with an intentional walk, and chose to play Brandon Marsh on first and second base with two outs. When the first pitch sinker flew in the middle of the pitch, Marsh pushed it away without missing it, making it a timely hit that crossed the third base line. Philadelphia, who scored 4 big innings in the 6th inning, actually won the game 6-0.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, Philadelphia made it 8-0 when Bohm hit a timely double with 2 RBIs in a chance with 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd base created by Schwarber’s walk and Harper’s single. Then, with one out and runners on 1st and 2nd base on Stutt’s hit, Realmuto hit a timely hit to bring in runner Bom on first base and make 1st and 3rd base. Here, Castellanos added one RBI with a sacrifice fly, increasing the score to 10-0.토토사이트
Philadelphia earned its third win of the postseason (3 wins, undefeated, 0.96 ERA) with starter Aaron Nola’s perfect pitch of 6 innings, 3 hits, no walks, and 7 strikeouts. The bullpen also completely shut down Arizona’s batting lineup with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts over 3 innings.
Meanwhile, Arizona’s starting pitcher Kelly, who was highly anticipated in the NLCS after pitching well against the LA Dodgers in the last Division Series (NLDS) (6 ⅓ innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, and no runs), became the losing pitcher with 3 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, and 4 runs in 5 ⅔ innings. It was painful that all three hits resulted in home runs. Arizona, whose batting lineup was silent with no hits and no scores, moved home with two losses and is looking to counterattack in Game 3 of the NLCS on the 20th.
