ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Kelly shines as Diamondbacks down Phillies to force decider

Kelly shines as Diamondbacks down Phillies to force decider

Published Oct 24, 2023 01:10 am

At A Glance

  • 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, Oct. 23, to force a winner-take-all game seven.

PHILADELPHIA (AFP) -- 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, Oct. 23, to force a winner-take-all game seven.

afp.com-20231023-PH-GTY-1752848720-highres.jpg
Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches in the bottom of the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies during Game Six of the Championship Series at Citizens Bank Park on Monday, Oct. 23, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (AFP)

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, Oct. 24, 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.

Related Tags

Philadelphia Phillies MLB
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.