MLB playoffs 2023: Diamondbacks walk off vs. Craig Kimbrel in NLCS Game 3, cut Phillies' series lead to 2-1

The Arizona Diamondbacks earned their first win of the NLCS in walk-off fashion Thursday, taking a 2-1 victory to make the series 2-1.

Philadelphia Phillies at Arizona Diamondbacks, NLCS Game 3: D-backs 2, Phillies 1 (Philly leads series 2-1)

Game summary:

It was a pitcher's duel into the sixth inning between Ranger Suárez and Brandon Pfaadt. They combined for 16 strikeouts and five total hits allowed, but both were pulled before they could get through the sixth inning.

Game 3 opened up a little bit once the bullpens came into play. In the seventh, Bryce Harper walked to lead off and eventually came home on a wild pitch, giving the Phillies the lead.

The Diamondbacks immediately punched back. Alek Thomas, who pitch-ran for Tommy Pham in the bottom of the seventh, scored on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s RBI double. It was Arizona’s first run in 17 innings.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the ninth, which was an adventurous one for Arizona.

After Gurriel walked on a full count, he got a huge jump off Phillies reliever Craig Kimbrel to take second base with no outs. He advanced to third on Pavin Smith’s infield single, putting the Diamondbacks in good position. But Emmanuel Rivera’s chopper to short saw Trea Turner fire home to get Gurriel tagged out at home.

One down, but the Diamondbacks still had two runners on. Geraldo Perdomo walked to load the bases, setting up Ketel Marte. The second baseman told TNT’s Matt Winer that he was sitting fastball during that at-bat, and that’s exactly what he got from Kimbrel.

The victory was the third postseason walk-off win in Diamondbacks franchise history, with the previous two occurring during the team's 2001 World Series run.

Key moment:

Marte continued his torrid play this postseason with another multi-hit game. He now has hits in all eight Diamondbacks playoff games and is batting .375 (13-for-35) in the 2023 postseason.

Impact player:

No surprise here. Marte went 3-for-5 with an RBI in Game 3. Besides the walk-off, he doubled twice earlier in the game, though the Diamondbacks couldn’t make anything of it, as their struggles with runners in scoring position continued until the very end of the game.

Ketel Marte

2B - ARI - #4

10/19/2023 v. PHI

3

H

0

HR

1

RBI

0

BB

1

K

What’s next?

Game 4 begins at 8:07 p.m. ET Friday. The Phillies will give the ball to Cristopher Sánchez. Arizona will counter with Joe Mantiply.