How ninth inning fell apart for Diamondbacks in epic World Series collapse

ARLINGTON, Texas — Paul Sewald stood in front of a locker in San Francisco and offered blunt honesty. This was his first day with the Arizona Diamondbacks, three long months ago, but Sewald did not feel the need to misrepresent himself in the name of first impressions.

“I just throw fastballs at the top and sweep sliders as much as I can,” Sewald said then. “… It's not rocket science up there. Every team in the league knows what I'm gonna do.”

That had not always been Sewald’s identity. In the first four years of his career, he tried to pitch like most pitchers do. He wanted to unpredictable by using all parts of the strike zone with an array of pitches. It didn’t work. His lifetime ERA was 5.50 before the Mariners signed him, streamlined his approach and saved his career. Since 2021, his ERA is 2.95.

But Sewald is predictable. He does not hide it. And every so often, it comes back to bite him.

Never, not in 329 career games, has that unfolded as painfully as it did Friday night. Sewald knew it immediately. He could only stare upward and drop his shoulders back. For a split second, he watched the ball off Corey Seager’s bat. Then he thought better of it, looking back towards the rafters as Seager’s home run came to rest deep in the right field stands.

In that moment, there was no more he could do. Under his watch, a 5-3 lead with one out in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the World Series had vanquished. Two innings later, the 5-5 tie Sewald left behind had turned into a 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Texas Rangers, with the Diamondbacks closer watching on helplessly from the training room. The first blow of this World Series had been felt, and felt hard.

“The shock factor,” manager Torey Lovullo said later, “was very high.”

It unraveled on a pitch Sewald throws in every single appearance, to almost every single batter. It was a high fastball, right at the mitt of Gabriel Moreno.

“You can definitely see (Seager) was going up there looking to get on top of a high fastball,” Sewald said.

Sewald’s predictability works because his fastball comes in at an unusual angle, appearing lower than it actually is. There’s a reason hitters are batting .220 on the pitch this year and whiffing 28.4% of the time despite subpar velocity.

Greg Moore: Paul Sewald, meet the legend of Byung-Hyun Kim

The Rangers, though, are notorious for beating pitchers at their strengths. In Game 7 of the ALCS, they chased Astros starter Cristian Javier in the first inning by exclusively looking for high fastballs and swatting them all over Minute Maid Park. Seager might be the poster child. Against Javier, he took a high fastball into the upper deck, almost identical to his shot off Sewald. His OPS this season was 1.013 for a reason.

Put it all together and it’s a perfect storm. Seager was 0 for 5 in his career against Sewald, but the home run is understandable. All of which is why that’s not where Sewald’s mind lingered.

“What I’m most frustrated with was walking (Leody) Taveras,” Sewald said. “Seager is one of the 10 best hitters in this league. You’ve just got to try to face him with nobody on there.”

Sewald is referring to the first at-bat of the inning. His first challenge, before the Rangers flipped their lineup over, was Taveras, the nine-hole hitter. The top five hitters in Texas’ lineup each have an OPS of .826 or better. Taveras finished the season at .733.

Sewald was unable to challenge him. He hit the target on one of five pitches, a high fastball that Taveras laid off. The other four pitches were all fastballs that Sewald left wide right. Were it not for a missed call on the first, Taveras would have had a four-pitch walk.

“I don’t really understand why I was rushing there,” Sewald said. “I’ve just got to try to attack him.”

After striking out Marcus Semien, Sewald rediscovered his control. The pitch to Seager was not a bad one and the rest of his inning featured only manageable mistakes. But in walking Taveras, he positioned himself to be punished by an elite hitter.

It stung even more because it was just Sewald’s second walk of the postseason. In eight outings, he had allowed three hits and no runs. Stretching back to the regular season, he had not blown a save since Aug. 26, a string of 18 appearances and 12 save opportunities. In the Diamondbacks’ run to the World Series, few players had been more important.

In a sense, this was inevitable. “It’s not the first blown save and probably won’t be the last,” Sewald said.

Of course, he had hoped to delay this one until April. Then he walked Taveras.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How 9th inning unraveled for DBacks in epic World Series Game 1 collapse