Final thoughts
Okay, we officially have a series! Assuming one has no rooting interest in either of the remaining teams, there’s no greater start to a World Series than a split in the first two games. A 1-1 split is an ideal situation for the casual fan as it usually portends a longer series. It is, of course, a less than ideal situation for the Rangers. Today, their weaknesses were exposed and they know their two-game home stand could have gone worse: they needed plenty of late-inning drama just to pull off a come-from-behind win in Game 1.
What happens next is anybody’s guess. The World Series heads to Arizona for Monday’s Game 3 where Rangers’ Max Scherzer and the Diamondbacks’ Brandon Pfaadt are currently penciled in as the probable starters. Stay tuned to the Guardian for further coverage of the 2023 World Series as it develops but this will wrap up today’s Game 2 liveblog. Thanks to everybody who followed along with us tonight. Ciao!
Merrill Kelly
Despite the final score, this was a much closer game until the Rangers bullpen imploded late. Arizona’s big hero was starting pitcher Merrill Kelly who put up a dazzling pitching performance: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7 Ks. It even felt like he could have stayed in there longer if necessary. Easily the player of the game.
The Arizona Diamondbacks win Game 2
The Arizona Diamondbacks, on the back of an impressive pitching performance by Merrill Kelly, have won Game 2 of the 2023 World Series! The series is now tied 1-1 heading to Arizona for Monday’s Game 3.
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Diamondbacks 9-1 Rangers, FINAL
Garver’s only goal here is to not make the final out of a World Series game. Luckily for him, Frías puts him in a decent position by throwing him two straight balls to start the plate appearance. However, after two strikes, he lines out to third and, in fact, makes the final out of a World Series game.
The Arizona Diamondbacks hold on to win!
Diamondbacks 9-1 Rangers, bottom 9th
Frías can end the game right here, as long as he can get García out. He falls behind 2-1, which would be worrisome if he wasn’t working with an eight-run lead. Semien takes second on defensive indifference but he would have made it there anyways because García eventually takes ball four. There’s runners on first and second but the key stat remains the fact that there’s two outs in the ninth inning.
Diamondbacks 9-1 Rangers, bottom 9th
Grossman looks at a Frías ball to start his at-bat but three strikes later, he’s out of there. The Rangers are down to their final out.
Diamondbacks 9-1 Rangers, bottom 9th
Luis Frías is coming into the game to get the final two outs for Arizona, possibly against Rangers pinch-hitter Robbie Grossman. Stay tuned.
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Diamondbacks 9-1 Rangers, bottom 9th
Seager is up next. He hits a long flyball that’s caught in centerfield. The Rangers are down to their last two outs of Game 2.
Diamondbacks 9-1 Rangers, bottom 9th
Saalfrank starts the bottom of the ninth, hoping to end this one as quickly as possible. Semien will lead things off here, although one imagines the Rangers are already looking ahead to Game 3. Semien hits a booming flyball that lands foul. He takes a ball and then fouls off the next pitch. 1-2. He then hits a ground ball that sneaks through the defenders for a single, his first hit of the game.
Two run single! (Rivera) Diamondbacks 9-1 Rangers
Diamondbacks 9-1 Rangers, top 9th
Rivera is up with runners on second and third but two outs. He drives in two runs with a single to absolutely ruin my pregame prediction. He gets thrown out on second to end the inning however. To the bottom of the ninth!
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, top 9th
Thomas is up with two on and one out. He grounds out on two pitches, moving the runners into scoring position.
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, top 9th
Gurriel hits a single to centerfield, Peterson advances on the play.
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, top 9th
Jace Peterson is getting a pinch-hitting opportunity here for Arizona. It’s kind of like a basketball game now here where the coaches empty out the bench. Peterson works a full count before hitting into a fielder’s choice. Walker is erased on the play. So it’s one down with Peterson on first.
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, top 9th
Pérez is back out there to pitch, essentially in mop-up duty now. He faces Walker, who hits a single to center. That’s Walker’s first hit of the World Series so good for him.
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, bottom 8th
That’s two quick outs for the Diamondbacks, so Tavares is up to try to salvage anything here for Texas. He falls behind in the count 0-2, takes two pitches and grounds out to short. The Rangers challenge the play, but the call is confirmed. To the ninth inning!
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, bottom 8th
Saalfrank gets Jung to ground out to third, sorry Jung lovers.
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, bottom 8th
Andrew Saalfrank is pitching now for Arizona as Kelly gets a well-earned rest. Rivera stays in the game, playing third base. Lowe is at the plate for the Rangers and he promptly grounds out to second.
Me earlier: “I’m going to guess this ends with a score like Diamondbacks 6-2 Rangers.”
If this holds up, I want to claim partial credit.
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, top 8th
Moreno strikes out on three pitches to finally end the inning, but the damage is done and this one feels all but out of reach for Texas. Still, the game must go on and we head to the bottom of the 8th inning.
RBI single! (Carroll) Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers
Diamondbacks 7-1 Rangers, top 8th
Carroll singles here and scores Perdomo! The Diamondbacks are just teeing off on these relievers.
Two-run single! (Marte) Diamondbacks 6-1 Rangers
Diamondbacks 6-1 Rangers, top 8th
This is more like the Rangers bullpen I was expecting. Ketel Marte is up next with the bases loaded and a chance to make the rest of this game entirely irrelevant. Pérez’s first pitch is yet another ball, this one that barely misses the ground. 1-0. Marte takes a huge swing and the next pitch, he doesn’t make contact. However, on the next pitch, he knocks in a base hit that’s a two-run, two-out single and the Diamondbacks have a five-run lead!
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 8th
Pérez faces Perdomo who looks at two straight strikes. He fouls off a 0-2 pitch to stay alive before taking a ball. 1-2. He doesn’t offer at another ball. 2-2. Pérez tries a sinker and doesn’t get the call. 3-2. The crowd boos, it does look like a borderline pitch but Pérez isn’t really showing great command.
And, yeah, he throws another ball to walk the bases loaded.
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 8th
What if you appeared in a World Series game and didn’t get a chance to hit? Well, it looks like Emmanuel Rivera is in to hit with Pérez in the game. Ah, managerial chess matches, how I loathe thee. Once again, that runner is still on second and there are still two outs. Pérez gets a strike on his first pitch to Rivera and then uncorks three straight pitches that aren’t in the zone before Rivera swings and misses to make it a full count. He waits for the next pitch and takes a walk.
So that’s runners on first and second with two outs now.
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 8th
Oh hey, a rare Diamondbacks pinch-hitter. Welcome to the World Series, Pavin Smith! Meanwhile, Stratton is out of the game now and pitcher Martín Pérez is coming in.
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 8th
To be fair, that’s not a terrible bunt, again it’s a situation where one more run might put this one out of reach. It’s also weird because Stratton doesn’t seem sharp. He gets ahead of Thomas 0-2 and just can’t put him away. Thomas works a full count and then starts to foul off fastballs to stay alive. On pitch number nine, however, Stratton gets him to look at a curve that just hits the corner for strike three. That’s now two out with a runner on second.
The announcers note that this was the first time an Arizona hitter struck out this game, which is maybe the number one reason why the Diamondbacks are in front.
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 8th
Gurriel Jr. is up next. He bunts and I’m just getting sick of this. Pham is on second base with one out now.
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 8th
Chris Stratton is the next Rangers reliever. He has absolutely no room for error given that there’s a huge difference between a three-run deficit and a four-run deficit. It’s the entire basis of the archaic “save” rule! He’s here to face Pham, who puts him to work by running up a full count on eight pitches before hitting a single to start of the top of the eighth. He’s 4-to-4 on the day.
In a world full of bullpen games and pitching “openers,” it’s important that we recognize how rare it is for a starter to get this deep in a postseason game.
Merrill Kelly is now the first pitcher to work seven innings in a World Series game in the 2020s. The last pitchers to do it were Stephen Strasburg (8.1 IP) and Gerrit Cole (7 innings twice) in 2019.
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 29, 2023
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, bottom 7th
Two out, nobody on in the bottom of the seventh. Heim is up to the plate for Texas and he gets ahead of the count 2-0 before looking at his first strike. 2-1. Kelly’s next pitch is a ball, 3-1. Could this be a rare walk?
Nope, Heim watches two straight strikes to end the inning. The Rangers have just six outs to play with to score three runs. Can they pull of late-inning magic again?
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, bottom 7th
Kelly gets Garver to ground out on three pitches. Not only is he doing a great job in limiting the Rangers to a single run but he’s also saving the Arizona bullpen here.
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, bottom 7th
Kelly is back out there to start the bottom of the seventh, probably with a slightly longer leash than Montgomery. At least, if he can get García out. Kelly gets ahead of the Rangers slugger 1-2 and eventually strikes him out for the first out of the inning. That’s 8 K’s for Kelly in what’s looking like a dominant World Series start.
Seventh inning stretch
Today’s rendition of “Take Me Out Of The Ballgame” is courtesy of jazz bassist Ray Brown. Just discovered this today and it’s maybe my favorite jazz cover of this standard. (Yes there are many and yes I’ve listened to a good percentage of them.)
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Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 7th
Okay now it ends. Walker grounds out to the pitcher. We’re headed to the bottom of the 7th!
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 7th
Dane Dunning, who we saw last night, is up now to pitch Gabriel Moreno. He gets ahead of Moreno 0-2 before throwing four straight pitches out of the zone to put him on first base, moving Carroll up to second. That’s two on with two out. Texas just can’t get out of this inning even though the first six went by rather swiftly.
Run-scoring single! (Carroll) Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers
Diamondbacks 4-1 Rangers, top 7th
Carroll is up next. He takes a strike and then Longoria scores without a throw. Bruce Bochy takes Heaney out after he’s faced the minimum three batters. Remember when we were talking about how the Rangers’ bullpen has been their achilles heel? Well, we’re seeing now why the Rangers stuck with Montgomery for so long.
Diamondbacks 3-1 Rangers, top 7th
Marte grounds out to third. Longoria can’t advance. There’s two out on the inning.
Diamondbacks 3-1 Rangers, top 7th
Andrew Heaney is here to pitch to Perdomo, who bunts to move Longoria over to second base with one out. Sigh.
Run-scoring single! (Longoria) Diamondbacks 3-1 Rangers
Diamondbacks 3-1 Rangers, top 7th
Longoria has learned his lesson: he doesn’t bunt here with zero outs. Instead, he hits a solid single that scores Thomas, scores an insurance run and chases Montgomery out of the game!
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, top 7th
So, Montgomery is back to start the top of the seventh, thanks in part to Pham’s baserunning blunder. Oh look, Thomas hits a leadoff double. That’s good news for the Diamondbacks unless they think back to the fact that Thomas didn’t get a chance to hit with runners on base to end the sixth.
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, bottom 6th
Kelly has six strikeouts to Montgomery’s zero, if you’re wondering how the pitching matchups are going. Never mind, that’s seven strikeouts as he gets Carter to swing and miss on a 1-2 curveball in the dirt to end the inning. To the seventh!
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, bottom 6th
Corey Seager is up with another chance to tie up a World Series game. Kelly greets him with a sinker that misses the plate. 1-0. His next sinker hits the corner though. 1-1. Seagar hits the next pitch just foul. 1-2. Kelly’s next pitch is a bit high. 2-2. Seager fouls off the next pitch and then swings and misses at a cutter. That’s two down in the inning.
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, bottom 6th
It feels like Arizona is in total control of this game, but yet it’s just a one-run game. It’s not Kelly’s fault, even the home run he allowed was on a pretty good pitch! He gets Semien to strike out looking on five pitches to start the bottom of the sixth.
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, top 6th
Tommy Pham is up next with two out and nobody on. He takes two changeups out the zone to get ahead of the count 2-0. It’s a hitter’s count and Pham knows it, swinging at a sinker that doesn’t sink and hitting yet another double. With first base open, the Rangers decide to intentionally walk him to face Thomas.
Except he doesn’t get the chance. Pham gets picked off second to end the inning! We’ll see if that baserunning miscue comes back to harm the Diamondbacks.
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, top 6th
Christian Walker, hitless so far this World Series according to the announcers, is up next. He takes a strike looking and then pops up. Montgomery has still only thrown 67 pitches here although one would assume that this his last inning no matter what.
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, top 6th
Montgomery remains in the game and gets Moreno to ground out to catcher on a single pitch.
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, bottom 5th
Tavares takes a strike, then a ball. 1-1. He takes the next pitch for a ball. 2-1. Taveras looks at strike two. 2-2. Kelly’s a pitch away from escaping here with the lead intact. Tavares fouls off the next pitch, still 2-2. Kelly wins the battle, getting him to ground out on the next pitch. He’s at 58 pitches, so it looks as if he could still give Arizona one or two more innings if things go the Diamondbacks’ way. To the sixth inning!
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, bottom 5th
Lowe hits a monster flyball on the next pitch but it stays in the yard and ends up just being the second out of the inning. The Rangers are definitely getting good wood on Kelly’s pitches here.
As if to prove this, Jung outruns a groundball to short for an infield hit to keep the line moving. Wait, that’s Diamondbacks brand baseball!
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, bottom 5th
As I said, the Rangers’ strategy should be to try to hit home runs. Heim is up next with nobody out and he hits what should be a hit but Walker makes a leap to grab the ball after it takes a wicked hop. What a defensive gem!
Home run! (Garver) Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers
Diamondbacks 2-1 Rangers, bottom 5th
At this point, the Rangers hitters should be trying to make Kelly work and get him out of the game as quickly as possible. He’s only at 43 pitches to start the bottom of the fifth. He gets a called strike on Garver. 0-1. The next pitch, a slider off the corner. 1-1.
And Garver hits the third pitch into the stands! The Texas Rangers are on the board courtesy of a Mitch Garver home run!
Diamondbacks 2-0 Rangers, top 5th
Carroll is up and on a 1-1 pitch he swings and misses at Montgomery’s changeup, just the second he’s gotten this outing. 1-2. Carroll fouls the next pitch off. Still, 1-2. Montgomery throws high for a pitch-out but they don’t get Perdomo who steals second on the play. 2-2. The next pitch? That bounces. 3-2. Runner on second with two outs.
We get a meeting on the mound, Montgomery wants to at least limit this two a two-run deficit here, especially given how Kelly is pitching. After a few more delays, Carroll fouls out to third to end the inning. We are now officially halfway through regulation, but that doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily halfway through Game 2. To the bottom of the fifth!
Diamondbacks 2-0 Rangers, top 5th
Perdomo is out there and he takes a strike looking and then fouls off the next pitch. 0-2. He takes a curve in the dirt, clearly checking his swing. 1-2. He fouls off the next pitch. Still 1-2. He takes a high pitch out of the zone. 2-2. On the next pitch, he knocks in a single. That’s one on and one out.
Marte is up next and he pops up on one pitch. So make that one on, two out.
Diamondbacks 2-0 Rangers, top 5th
Montgomery falls behind Longoria 3-0. I wonder if he will bunt here? He takes the get-on-over automatic strike instead. 3-1. On the next pitch he reaches out and hits a low slider that’s going to be a groundball out every time.
Diamondbacks 2-0 Rangers, bottom 4th
Evan Carter gets the Rangers’ first hit! It’s a single that falls into no man’s land in the outfield. Up comes García, who can quickly tie this game on one swing.
Instead he flies out on two pitches. Kelly has thrown just 43 pitches, which is exactly what Arizona needs after the 11-inning extravaganza in Game 1. FOX goes to commercial to the tune of the Grateful Dead’s “Estimated Prophet” as we head to the fifth inning.
Diamondbacks 2-0 Rangers, bottom 4th
Kelly, who has been pitching a gem, has now been staked a lead. He gets Semien to fly out to left on two pitches and Seagar to line out to Thomas on one pitch.
What’s going wrong with Montgomery, well he’s literally not missing any bats, that’s usually the recipe for disaster against a talented team.
The Diamondbacks have swung the bat 22 times tonight and they have yet to miss.
— Inside Edge (@IE_MLB) October 29, 2023
Jordan Montgomery have never been this deep into an outing without a swing and miss in his career. pic.twitter.com/CB15T05a5U
Diamondbacks 2-0 Rangers, top 4th
Alek Thomas is up with a runner on first base and two down. He takes a curve for a ball. 1-0. He takes a strike 1-1. Thomas grounds out on the next pitch, but the Diamondbacks have taken another two-run lead on the Rangers. To the bottom of the fourth!
Run-scoring single! (Gurriel Jr) Diamondbacks 2-0 Rangers
Diamondbacks 2-0 Rangers, top 4th
Never mind, that run scores anyways! Gurriel Jr singles him in from second! The second time through the order, the Diamondbacks batters are seeing Montgomery much better!
Diamondbacks 1-0 Rangers, top 4th
Jung’s play ends up being key because Pham hits a double at the very next at-bat. That might have saved a run there. In any case, now a runner on second with still two out.
Diamondbacks 1-0 Rangers, top 4th
Christian Walker hits what seems to be a clear base hit but Jung manages to throw him out from third base for the second out of the inning.
Home run! (Moreno) Diamondbacks 1-0 Rangers
Diamondbacks 1-0 Rangers, top 4th
Moreno is up next. He takes a ball, looks at a sinker and then fouls a pitch off. 1-2. Montgomery can’t get him to chase a pitch just off the plate. 2-2. Moreno stays alive by fouling the next one off. Still 2-2. He takes a pitch in the dirt, telegraphed by the catcher Heim. 3-2. He fouls off the next pitch. This is a battle.
A battle than Moreno wins! He hits a 400+ foot home run to center and the Diamondbacks have a 1-0 lead!
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 4th
Carroll faces Montgomery to start the fourth and he pops out to centerfield where Seagar makes an effortless looking catch.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, bottom 3rd
Two down, bases empty. Leody Taveras is up and he’s down on three pitches. This one’s moving at a much quicker pace than yesterday’s game so far. Onto the fourth inning!
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, bottom 3rd
Josh Jung works a full count against Kelly, who keeps mixing up his pitches in a way that seems to be confounding the Rangers early. Jung’s at-bat ends with yet another groundball out, this one to short. Kelly’s only at 33 pitches too.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, bottom 3rd
Nathaniel Lowe is out there against Kelly, who falls behind 2-1 before getting Lowe to foul off a few balls and then gaze at strike three.
Furthermore…
Evan Longoria's third inning bunt was his first since 2014 and just his fifth in 2,035 career games
— Theo Mackie (@theo_mackie) October 29, 2023
If you’re wondering why the Diamondbacks brand of baseball frustrates me as someone who spent the 2010s hanging out with the SABR crowd, that last half-inning sums it up.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 3rd
Marte is back up and he flies out to center and the Diamondbacks fail to capitalize on getting a zero-out baserunner, mostly due to really bad situational hitting.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 3rd
Geraldo Perdomo, the guy that you would want sacrificing, is up next. He falls behind 0-2 before taking a pitch. He grounds out to short, moving Thomas to third but now there’s two down so he can’t score on an out.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 3rd
And Evan Longoria hits a sacrifice bunt here for some reason? I don’t get it at all unless he was trying for a base hit and bungled it. (And that also would be a bad idea!) In any case, it gets Thomas to second but there’s one away now.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 3rd
Alek Thomas is up to face Montgomery and he immediately hits a single on the first pitch he sees. So, the Diamondbacks have one on and nobody out.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, bottom 2nd
Mitch Garver is up next for the Rangers and he immediately falls behind 0-2. Kelly throws another one of those low sliders out of the zone, but Garver doesn’t chase. He does, however, pop out to third on the next pitch. The hitters look tired on both sides, like they’re still recovering from Game 1.
Just like that, Jonah Heim hits a long flyball to end the inning. To the third!
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, bottom 2nd
Adolis García leads off the bottom of the second, which is honestly where you want him as a pitcher rather than being at the plate with runners on base. Kelly gets him to ground out on two pitches which he has to feel good about.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 2nd
Pham is there for only a split second as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. immediately hits into a double play, so Montgomery has still faced the minimum after two.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 2nd
Christian Walker grounds out on two pitches. Immediately afterwards, it looks like Tommy Pham does the same but he beats it out for an infield single for the game’s first baserunner. The Diamondbacks absolutely love running out groundballs for singles.
Email from Ian Jefferson:
Regarding your prediction. What would Roy Kent say...
We just don’t know. We’re not the ones out there.
That’s the cleanest paraphrase I could come up with.
I appreciate the email but I’m going to admit that I had to Google this reference! I’m sorry, when it comes to TV from ex-SNL actors, I’m very much a “Barry” person and not a “Ted Lasso” person.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, bottom 1st
Evan Carter, who has literally been on base every game this postseason, is up next. He takes a strike, then a ball. He gets jammed on the next pitch, a cutter, and hits it foul. On the next pitch he takes strike three. That’s a 1-2-3 inning for both starting pitchers.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, bottom 1st
Corey Seager pops up to short on two pitches for out number two.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, bottom 1st
Merrill Kelly is out now, pitching to Rangers leadoff man Marcus Semien. Kelly’s first pitch is a low strike. 0-1. On the next pitch, Kelly throws a cutter that Semien can’t connect with. Next, Kelly shows off a slider but it’s out of the zone. 1-2. Next up? A sinker that is way off the corner of the plate. He’s showing off his arsenal early.
Semien fouls off two changeups before finally striking out on a slider that was also out of the zone. It’s the first out of the inning.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 1st
Gabriel Moreno is up next and gets ahead of the count 3-1 before fouling two itches off and then popping up a very tall popup to centerfield to end the top of the first inning.
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 1st
Next up is Corbin Carroll, who gets ahead of the count 2-1. Carroll fouls the next pitch off and then takes a ball to work a full count. This is more what the Diamondbacks want early on: make Montgomery throw a lot of pitches and get to the bullpen once again.
On pitch six, Carroll grounds out to second.
First pitch
Diamondbacks 0-0 Rangers, top 1st
Jordan Montgomery throws a breaking ball to Ketel Marte who immediately grounds out to start the game. Not a bad first pitch, I have to say.
We’re getting close to opening pitch! It’s supposed to be right now, but (as mentioned earlier) there’s television stuff that needs to be done first.
Now here comes the part where John Smoltz starts talking on the FOX broadcast and I desperately hope his pregame analysis does not resemble mine in the slightest.
National anthem
Young singer Pearle Peterson, representing the Boys & Girls Club of America, gives her performance of “The Star Spangled Banner.” She’s really good too, which is helpful because I would have felt like a jerk panning a random teenage girl! 8/10.
Predictions
Previously, I said this World Series would last six or seven games. The easily way to ensure a long series is for it to start 1-1, so for that reason alone I’m pretty much locked into the Diamondbacks shaking off yesterday’s late-inning collapse and evening the series up tonight.
I can justify this choice, however! The Rangers bullpen did a fantastic job yesterday in keeping the Diamondbacks scoreless after Nathan Eovaldi uncharacteristically failed to get through five innings. However, it also means that they’ve already been overworked.
Should Montgomery also fail to give the team a long outing, Arizona can take advantage of the situation and hope that the Rangers bullpen regresses to the man in Game 2. I’m going to guess this ends with a score like Diamondbacks 6-2 Rangers.
Agree? Disagree? As always, we welcome your predictions. Feel free to send them here via email (to hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com) or via The Website I Refuse To Call X (to @HunterFelt). We’ll include your thoughts as we go along.
Rangers starting lineup
1. Marcus Semien, 2B
2. Corey Seager, SS
3. Evan Carter, LF
4. Adolis García, RF
5. Mitch Garver, DH
6. Jonah Heim, C
7. Nathaniel Lowe, 1B
8. Josh Jung, 3B
9. Leody Taveras, CF
Starting pitcher: Jordan Montgomery.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are sticking with their Game 1 lineup card. Manager Bruce Bochy is not messing with success.
Diamondbacks starting lineup.
1. Ketel Marte, 2B
2. Corbin Carroll, RF
3. Gabriel Moreno, C
4. Christian Walker, 1B
5. Tommy Pham, DH
6. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., LF
7. Alek Thomas, CF
8. Evan Longoria, 3B
9. Geraldo Perdomo, SS
Starting pitcher: Merrill Kelly
The only switch here is that with a lefty on the mound for Texas, the Diamondbacks have swapped Marte and Carroll at the top of the lineup.
Adolis García
Well, if this series didn’t have any star players before Game 1, it feels like it does now. Aldois García has gone from a player that the St Louis Cardinals ended up trading in exchange for cash considerations. How good is he? Good enough that The Onion felt obliged to honor him with jokes about him hitting three home runs on a single hit.
The Astros thought they had figured García out in Game 6, striking him out four straight times. It didn’t matter, he came out and hit a grand slam. The ALCS MVP racked up 15 RBI against Houston alone, a big reason that he was able to set the postseason RBI record just a game into this World Series.
Preamble
Has everybody recovered from yesterday’s 11-inning marathon? The Arizona Diamondbacks looked as if they were in control for most of the game until the Texas Rangers’ Corey Seager hit a game-tying double in the bottom of the ninth against Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald.
It was a shocking moment. What was less shocking was who ended the thriller in extra innings. Adolis García’s walk-off home run not only put the Rangers up 1-0 in the World Series, he set a postseason RBI record in the process. Plus, he still has at least three more games to pad his stats.
The Rangers are now on top but they still have three more games against a very resilient opponent. This is an Arizona team that just came back from a 0-2 deficit in the NLCS to defeat the favored Philadelphia Phillies so a 0-1 deficit is nothing. Recent history suggests that there are more twists and turns to follow.
It feels amusing that the narrative heading into this series was that it wasn’t going to be interesting because the “wrong” teams had made it to the final round. As I wrote in yesterday’s liveblog, that wouldn’t necessarily be the case: “If you put two teams together and force them to play four to seven games, storylines will emerge! Sports are narrative-creating machines and drama can emerge out of nowhere.”
This was, in part, a prayer for Baseball Gods that we would get a competitive series. The back-and-forth rhythms of Game 1 suggest that my prayers may have been answered.
We’ll see how things go in Game 2. Today, the Diamondbacks are starting righthander Merrill Kelly (2-1, 2.65 ERA this postseason) while the Rangers will be starting lefthander Jordan Montgomery (3-0, 2.16 ERA). It’s hard to imagine that the two teams will combine for a more entertaining battle than the one we witnessed yesterday, but it should be fun to watch them try.
If you want to contribute to today’s blog, you can do so by sending your questions or comments to us via email (to hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com) or via Twitter (to @HunterFelt). It’s Game 2 of the 2023 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers at Arlington’s Globe Life Field! Opening pitch is scheduled to start at 8:03 pm EST but we’ll be back with starting lineups, predictions and random commentary well before then.
Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Tom Dart’s look back from a thrilling Game 1 at Arlington’s Globe Life Field.
