Major League Baseball

Diamondbacks rally behind young hitters to stun Phillies, tie NLCS 2-2

Updated Oct. 21, 2023 5:16 a.m. ET

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Jake Mintz

FOX Sports MLB Analyst

PHOENIX — Craig Kimbrel dropped to a knee, swiveled towards the horizon and watched his world go up in smoke … again.

For the second consecutive day, the stocky redhead with a God-kissed right arm and 417 career saves was saddled with the loss. On Thursday, Kimbrel walked the entire state of Arizona before Ketel Marte ended the proceedings with a walk-off single to center. 

The end of Game 4 was even worse.

With the Phillies up a pair of runs in the eighth inning, Kimbrel surrendered a game-tying, series-altering two-run smash to MLB sophomore Alek Thomas. As the Diamondbacks' light-hitting center fielder — only 10 years old when Kimbrel debited in the majors — floated around the bags, Kimbrel stared off into the distance, exhaling deep as the reality of the situation sunk in.

Four batters later, catcher Gabriel Moreno singled against José Alvarado to drive in an inherited runner from Kimbrel and give Arizona the lead. That was enough. D-backs closer Paul Sewald struck out Trea Turner to lock down a tense ninth inning, sending a sold-out home crowd into baseball bliss.

As Chase Field rattled and roared, joyous in collective disbelief, the Diamondbacks poured out onto the diamond to congratulate one another. It was an improbable twist in the story. The six-seeded cardiac D-backs, a club which looked overwhelmed and overmatched in Philadelphia, somehow evened this NLCS at two games apiece with Friday's 6-5 win.

"I can't really describe how I feel because I haven't had a chance to interpret what just happened," an elated and shellshocked Arizona skipper Torey Lovullo said.

While it ended with drama, Game 4 was somewhat of a slow burn. 

Nothing slogs down a postseason contest like competing bullpen games. Arizona went for the full reliever carousel, starting lefty Joe Mantiply for a single inning. The Phillies hoped young Cristopher Sánchez, who had a 3.44 ERA in nearly 100 regular-season innings, could navigate through the D-backs lineup at least once.

In the early going, the Phillies looked just as lethargic and listless as they did in their Game 3 loss. An Alec Bohm throwing error followed by a Sánchez mental mistake on what could have been an inning-ending double play (he forgot how many outs there were) led to Arizona's first run. The D-backs doubled their advantage an inning later.

But when Kyle Schwarber obliterated a chest-high heater into the right-field seats in the top of the fourth, the Phillies sprung back to life. 

In the fifth, Brandon Marsh drove in the tying run with a two-out, opposite field double. And when a wayward Andrew Saalfrank walked the bases loaded to start the sixth, the Phillies could see a trip to the Fall Classic coming into focus. 

A bizarre chopper from Bohm scored a pair, as Arizona third baseman Emmanuel Rivera misfired a play at the plate. Philadelphia added another run in the seventh when Johan Rojas tripled and scored on a Turner sac fly.

But Arizona tacked on a run in the bottom half against Gregory Soto and Orion Kerkering, both of whom struggled with control. Kerkering escaped by a whisker, but that relief would be temporary. Kimbrel came on for the eighth and the rest was mayhem.

For the weary and wary baseball watchers among us, Kimbrel's untimely implosion was no surprise. The 35-year-old is multiple things simultaneously: one of the 10 greatest closers ever and an October catastrophe. 

Even though he posted a solid regular season as Philly's capital-C closer, Kimbrel has not exactly inspired confidence along the way. He has been a rickety bridge over a dangerous canyon.

And while Friday's loss does not fall on his shoulders alone — many other Phillies relievers scuffled in Game 4 and the offense again failed to capitalize on a number of run-scoring opportunities — Kimbrel was the story. The wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time, his failures were on full display upon the lonely hill for the baseball world to see.

"The last two games sucked," Kimbrel said. "I roll up in here and it cost us two games. The bright side is we are still tied 2-2."

That Sánchez, and not Taijuan Walker or Michael Lorenzen, was tabbed for the start is another notable piece of the puzzle. Walker was a marquee free-agent signing over the winter, earning himself a four year, $72 million contract. Lorenzen was the club's big deadline acquisition this July. Neither option inspired enough confidence from Philadelphia's decision-makers for October. 

And so Sánchez, instead of possibly giving the Phillies some length out of the bullpen, had to start. That pushed every reliever up in the game, and when the night got old, the Phillies simply didn't have enough arms in the stable to finish the job. A relief group that kept Atlanta's juggernaut offense at bay a series ago, looks completely exhausted. 

Philly, which paraded through the early part of this postseason, suddenly appears uncarbonated, in need of spark. The vibes, once immaculate, are only as good as the final score.

"My biggest thing is making sure that everyone comes out tomorrow and it's normal." Schwarber told FOX Sports following Game 4. "It's not gonna be a cuss-fest or anything like that. We just have to come in ready and prepared."

Game 5 might decide this series. The pitching matchup, a scintillating rematch of Game 1 aces, pits Arizona's Zac Gallen against Philly's Zack Wheeler. Both starters will be tasked with working deep into the contest to save their taxed bullpens. 

Two more wins from either team will clinch a trip to the World Series, as an NLCS that once felt like a landslide is now a coin flip. This fight has at least a couple of more rounds to go.

Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ is a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He played college baseball, poorly at first, then very well, very briefly. Jake lives in New York City where he coaches Little League and rides his bike, sometimes at the same time. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Mintz.

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Jake Mintz