WS 2: Diamondbacks 9, Texas 1

Arizona – 000 200 232 – 9 16  0
Texas   – 000 010 000 – 1  4  0

Arizona pitcher Merrill Kelly quieted the top American League offense on Saturday evening (7-3-1-0-9, 89), allowing only one runner to advance past first base. His teammates got on the board in the fourth and then stepped on the gas against Texas' bullpen en route to a 9-1 win, evening the World Series at one game apiece.

Ketel Marte went 1-for-5, singling home two runs in the eighth inning and thereby setting a new MLB record by hitting safely in 18 consecutive postseason games. Tommy Pham went 4-for-4, with two doubles and two runs scored. Seven different Diamondback players scored one run each.

Kelly retired the first 10 Texas batters before Evan Carter dumped a single into short center. Mitch Garver began the home fifth with a dong to left and later in the inning Josh Jung reached on an infield single. That was all Texas could do against Kelly, who struck out five of his last six batters.

The MLB International announcers – Dave Flemming (play-by-play) and Ryan Spilborghs (additional talking) – were gushing over Texas starter Jordan Mongomery like he was the second coming of Sandy Koufax. The free-agent-to-be has been so good lately, Spilborghs explained, that this winter, "he might as well back the Brinks truck up to his house". Montgomery then proceeded to allow three hits (and two runs) to the next four batters. Oops. My issue with Spilborghs's comment is that it's the TEAM that drives the truck full of money to the superstar's house. The player doesn't drive the goddamn truck!

Montgomery ended the top of the sixth by picking Pham off second base. He gave up a double and a run-scoring single to start the seventh and was pulled for Andrew Heaney, who allowed the inherited runner to score. In the eighth, Chris Stratton gave up a single and got two outs before Texas manager Bruce Bochy called for Martín Pérez. Why he chose to do this, I do not know. Pérez was exactly league average in 2023 (4.45 ERA); he had a 10-4 record, but Bochy wouldn't be fooled by that (right?). I remarked out loud that Pérez was going to suck and that's exactly what happened. I'm not giving myself any credit for prognostication; it wasn't a very outlandish prediction. Needing only one out, Pérez walked his first two batters, which loaded the bases, then gave up two singles which brought all three runners home, effectively putting the game on ice for Arizona.

Texas fans thought one of Pérez's pitches to his second batter, a 2-2 offering to Geraldo Perdomo, was a strike. It was inside and not a strike (though it was close) and plate umpire Quinn Wolcott correctly called it a ball. Wolcott had blown several calls throughout the night, so the fans perhaps had an uncertain image of the strike zone. Or they simply wanted a fuckin strike to end the inning with no runs scored and their team trailing 1-4. But Wolcott got the call right, so the inning continued, and Pérez kept Pérezing until the game was out of reach.

Speaking of Wolcott, in the second inning, Flemming said he was "very accurate to what we might call the Statcast rule book strike zone". (Otherwise known as the "rule book".) Flemming was correct. In 2023, Wolcott was the best ball-strike umpire in MLB, calling 96% of pitches correctly.

Other Announcer Nonsense:

A first-inning graphic showed the "Youngest Players To Hit Third In Batting Order, World Series History". Texas left fielder Evan Carter was 2nd (21 years, 59 days), behind Mickey Mantle (20-347, 1952) and ahead of Joe DiMaggio (21-310, 1936). This graphic was nothing but visual pollution. Why not show us "Youngest Players To Leadoff Top Of Fifth Inning, World Series History"?

Spilborghs pointed out the presence of "human emotions" among the players because this is the World Series!

You may have noticed in recent years, broadcasts love to show players yelling or clapping or pounding their chests in super-slo-mo. This is one of baseball broadcasting's greatest mysteries. Seeing a batter scream while punching himself in the chest adds absolutely nothing to my knowledge or enjoyment of the game. Why not show the home run? Why not show the inning-ending strikeout? Why not show a wide shot of the entire field? Shit, I'd even prefer a glimpse of a C-list actor or an instantly-forgettable country-pop musician. The announcers were extolling the pitching talents of Merrill Kelly at the end of the seventh inning when a super-slo-mo clip appeared of Kelly pounding his throwing hand into his glove with his mouth wide open in a pure animalistic roar. Spilborghs said, with not an insignificant amount of awe and admiration in his voice, "Look at this."

Spilborghs also praised Texas pitching coach Mike Maddux for always, when making a mound visit, putting his right hand on the pitcher's shoulder. This came in the eighth inning and the pitcher was Pérez, after the two walks. Maddux's kind but firm hand produced no magic this time, however.

The bottom of the eighth ended with Arizona first baseman Christian Walker stretching as far towards the plate as humanly possible while still keeping part of his cleat on the bag to snare a wide throw from shortstop Perdomo. The best angle of the bag was from a left field camera and I thought I saw some infield dirt between the white of the bag and the white of the shoe, but the call was upheld. It was pretty remarkable play. Walker made a fantastic play in the fifth as well. Jonah Heim grounded down the first base line, where Walker was behind the bag. The ball struck the bag and caromed much higher than Walker was expecting. He stuck out his bare right hand and more or less caught the ball (it bounced from his hand a couple of inches for a fraction of a second, but he grabbed it) and shovel-tossed tit to the pitcher for the out.

After his stretch ended the eighth, Walker led off the top of the ninth. I thought we had finally reached (in recent years) that stage of evolution where baseball announcers mention the hoary quip about how the guy who makes a great play to end the inning leads off the next inning because they heard it all through their youth - only as a dumb joke. It's always presenting ironically. Well, guess what? Evolution does not proceed in a linear fashion. 

The count was 1-1 on Walker when we heard this: "You see this all the time, Dave, somebody makes a sparkling defense play, they usually lead off the next inning, and sometimes they end up rewarding themselves with a hit." He was as serious as a heart attack. And Walker hit a single to center!

In the bottom of the ninth, Arizona reliever Luis Frías came in with one on and one out. He struck out a pinch-hitter, but walked Adolis García on five pitches, while also throwing over to first, with the first baseman not holding the runner and standing 20 feet away from the bag. He fell behind 2-0 on Garver. AZ pitching coach Brent Strom headed to the mound. I wondered if Strom would put a calming hand on Frías's shoulder. Not exactly. He walked up to the pitcher, faced him, and put a hand on each shoulder. Two hands! But it did not seem completely friendly. His mouth was blocked from the camera, so I don't know what he was saying, but I'll bet it was along the lines of "You're up by eight fuckin runs, you  fuckin need one fuckin out, so fuckin throw some motherfuckin strikes so we can get the fuck out of here. Okay?" Whatever he said, it worked. A called strike, a foul, and a line out to third.

Sarah Langs brings the stat factoids:

1) After a home run in Game 1, Pham produced again on Saturday, becoming the 18th player in World Series history to go 4-for-4 in a game. He was the first to do so since Pablo Sandoval in his three-homer performance in Game 1 in 2012. The only other instances in the Wild Card era were Matt Holliday (2007) and Tim Salmon (2002), each in a Game 2. . . .

3) The D-backs combined for 16 hits, the most in a World Series game since the Giants had 16 in 2014 Game 4. The only other team to reach that mark in the last 20 World Series was the Red Sox, with 17 in 2007 Game 1.

4) They also barely struck out, doing so just twice at the plate. The D-backs became the third team to strike out two or fewer times in a World Series game in the Wild Card era, joining the 2010 Rangers in Game 2 (two) and 2002 Angels in Game 2 (none). Only five other teams have had at least 15 hits and two or fewer strikeouts in a Fall Classic game: those '02 Angels in Game 2, the 1987 Twins in Game 6, 1928 Yankees in Game 4, 1912 Giants in Game 7 and 1910 A’s in Game 3. . . .

8) It wasn't all hits, though. The D-backs became the first team with three sacrifice bunts in a World Series game since the Cardinals in Game 5 of the 2011 World Series, also in Texas. They were the first team to win a World Series game with at least three sacrifice bunts since the A's in 1974 Game 1. Only one team had a game with three this year in the regular season: the D-backs, on May 6.

9) As great as the offense was, so was Kelly, who went seven innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. Only four pitchers have had more strikeouts with no walks in a World Series game: 2017 Clayton Kershaw (11), 1949 Don Newcombe (11), 2009 Cliff Lee (10) and 1903 Deacon Phillippe (10) – all in Game 1s. Phillippe's was the first World Series game.

10) With the split in Arlington, this is the 11th consecutive World Series that will not end in a sweep, with the last one coming by the Giants in 2012. Eleven consecutive World Series without a sweep is the second-longest stretch in World Series history, behind a 12-year streak from 1977-88 that saw no teams record a World Series sweep.

Outdated Cultural Reference Dept.:

When Adolis García (0-for-3, walk) fouled off a 2-2 pitch in the seventh, his left foot slipped in the batters box and he fell down. He sat on his ass for a second or two before getting up. Spilborghs remarked that he "looked like a broken wagon wheel". Forget the lame 45-year-old pop music references. This is more like a 155-year-old reference! It made no sense, but I liked it.

While looking for pictures of wagon wheels, I saw this picture from 1908 ("Fred Pearson and family, Johnson County, Kansas). Note the dog has elegantly crossed her front paws for the picture.