ARLINGTON, Texas — As his team’s first World Series appearance in two decades dawned, Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen found his joy cut with some frustration. So many people seemed to see an 84-win, sixth seed that didn’t deserve to be here. He saw a roster he believed the sport had been begging to watch for some three decades.
“I don’t see how it’s bad for the sport,” he said. “I would hope that everybody wants everyone to compete. Nobody wants rebuilding and tanking. That’s all I’ve heard for the last whatever years. I’ve also heard that people don’t love strikeouts. They love small ball, put the ball on the ground, run, steal. We do all that stuff, too. So why don’t you like this team? This team embodies a lot of those principles. We don’t just line up and try and hit three-run home runs. I don’t quite understand why there’s not more that resonates with that.”
Well, maybe this team will resonate a bit more after a decidedly old-school 9–1 victory in Game 2 to even the series with the Rangers and guarantee that winter will not begin for at least three more games. Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly tossed seven brilliant innings, mixing his six pitches and topping out at 94.3 mph. Geraldo Perdomo stole a base and Arizona executed three sacrifice bunts for the first time in a Fall Classic game since the Cardinals did it in 2011. The Diamondbacks also strung together singles, made productive outs and generally gave traditionalists something to celebrate.
AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez
For a while, it was an old-school pitchers’ duel, too: Rangers lefty Jordan Montgomery was effective early but did not strike out a batter and departed with two on and no out in the seventh. Kelly retired the first 11 Rangers, then scattered three hits and one run. The Diamondbacks did not even have a reliever warming up until the seventh inning; Kelly might have had a chance to begin the eighth if his teammates had not taken 21 minutes to score three runs in the top of the frame.
The series showcases two different versions of baseball: The Rangers finished fourth in the sport with 233 regular season home runs, and the Diamondbacks finished second in stolen bases with 166. (Arizona hit 166 dingers, good for No. 22; Texas swiped 79 bags, which ranked No. 27.)
“My philosophy is I have to manage the team that we have, and it’s always going to be a little bit different,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said before the game. “I might have a team in a year or two that can hit three-run home runs and win a different way. But in this particular case we have a bunch of speed and guys that love to execute.”
So, naturally the Diamondbacks’ first run came on a long ball by 23-year-old catcher Gabriel Moreno, who opened March as the backup catcher and will end October as perhaps its most valuable postseason player. If he has felt overwhelmed by the stage, he has kept it to himself, guiding the Arizona pitching staff to a 3.48 playoff ERA and driving in the winning runs in Games 4 and 7 of the National League Championship Series. And in the fourth inning on Saturday, he worked a 3–2 count and pounced on a middle-middle sinker.
Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated
Two pitches later, DH Tommy Pham doubled to right, and two pitches after that, left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove him home with a single.
The Rangers got one back when DH Mitch Garver led off the fifth with a home run, but 23-year-old centerfielder Alek Thomas led off the seventh with a double to centerfield. Third baseman Evan Longoria singled him home, and after a sac bunt and a groundout, a single by right fielder Corbin Carroll scored Longoria, too. It might have ended there, but the Rangers’ bullpen loomed.
All season, the Rangers have struggled to find the optimal mix of relief arms. Their bullpen ERA of 4.77 this year ranked No. 24 in baseball, and their 14–22 record in one-run games ranked No. 28. They blew 33 saves, tied for the most in baseball. They swapped prospects for lefty Aroldis Chapman at the deadline, hoping he could shore up the unit, but he has never looked fully comfortable. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy seems to retain full trust in only closer José Leclerc and setup man Josh Sborz. Every ride to 27 outs has been harrowing.
Still, the bullpen has only once cost them this postseason, when Leclerc allowed a three-run homer to José Altuve in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Astros, and Bochy insisted on Saturday that he anticipated using his full roster.
“You can’t just have one or two guys,” Bochy said. “You need that third and fourth guy to help you out in those situations.”
On Saturday, his third and fourth guys faltered. Lefty Andrew Heaney, a converted starter, allowed Montgomery’s two runners to score, and righty Chris Stratton and lefty Martin Pérez, another converted starter, combined to permit three more in the eighth: single, sacrifice bunt, strikeout, walk, walk, single, single, strikeout. Arizona scored one more on a similar sequence in the ninth.
That’s how teams did it 30 years ago, and that’s how the Diamondbacks do it today.
