Merrill Kelly pitched a gem to shut down the free-scoring Philadelphia Phillies as the Arizona Diamondbacks claimed a National League Championship Series-leveling 5-1 victory on Monday to force a winner-take-all game seven.
Arizona righthander Kelly struck out eight batters for just one run against a Phillies line-up that had not lost at home all postseason before Monday’s defeat at Citizens Bank Park.
The Diamondbacks’ win sets up a game seven in Philadelphia on Tuesday where the winner will advance to the World Series to face either Houston or the Texas Rangers.
Arizona will head into Tuesday’s decider in a confident mood after producing a disciplined performance to frustrate the Phillies attempt to wrap up the NLCS.
“It’s going to be fun,” Kelly said of Tuesday’s game seven.
“The fact that we’re here — I don’t think anybody thought we would even take it game six. I don’t think anybody even thought we would make it to game one… the fact that we’re, we’re going to enjoy it and take it all in but we’re definitely coming out competitive and trying to win.”
The tone was set early with Arizona cutting loose in the top of the second inning after Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. crushed back-to-back home runs off Aaron Nola to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead before Evan Longoria’s sharp line drive allowed Alek Thomas to score to make it 3-0.
There were signs of a Phillies rally in the bottom of the inning when Brandon Marsh doubled to score J.T. Realmuto to make it 3-1. But Kelly then extricated himself from a jam, striking out Trea Turner with two runners stranded on base to end the inning.
With the Phillies continuing to struggle against Kelly, the Diamondbacks kept the score ticking over with Ketel Marte’s triple allowing Corbin Carroll to score for a 4-1 lead.
Marte then drove in another run in the seventh inning to send Geraldo Perdomo home, leaving Arizona 5-1 up heading into the late stages.
The Diamondbacks’ bullpen continued to bottle up the Phillies offense, with reliever Kevin Ginkel wrapping up the eighth inning with a minimum of fuss to preserve Arizona’s four-run cushion heading to the ninth.
Closer Paul Sewald then grabbed the final three outs to clinch the win.
