PHOENIX — Third base is almost home. It's the doorstep to achieving the goal. It is the land of opportunity.
Arizona Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte hits a walk-off single against the Philadelphia Phillies during the ninth inning in Game 3 of the baseball NL Championship Series in Phoenix, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. PHOENIX — Third base is almost home. It’s the doorstep to achieving the goal. It is the land of opportunity.
Reliever Jeff Hoffman then demonstrated the thrust of the logic to which so many managers now adhere — and to which so many fans and observers object. He whiffed Gabriel Moreno on three sliders and a 98 mph fastball, then got Christian Walker to ground out on a slider. Marte was stranded. That opportunity was for naught. The larger one made available because of Pfaadt’s excellence was, at the very least, endangered.
A-ha. Yep. The D-backs really had the Phillies in a pinch there. This situation, runners on the corners and no outs,scoring the go-ahead run would count as a major disappointment. Yet the D-backs did not score. Gurriel froze as Phillies shortstop Trea Turner fielded a grounder, took a couple steps toward third, then turned and fired to start a double-play.
In the regular season, the league’s hitters had a .734 OPS with two out and third base occupied — identical to the overall MLB OPS. In the postseason thus far — when every such situation is a four-alarm fire that calls for, say, dominant left-hander Jose Alvarado — the overmatched hitters have managed just a .167 average and .624 OPS. They have struck out 28.6% of the time.4. Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Leading off against Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel, Gurriel created a new opportunity. He walked, and soon enough, he was back on third base. Soon after that, he was watching another grounder bound toward Turner at shortstop. This time, Gurriel didn’t freeze. He sprinted home, but the throw beat him, and despite some flailing attempts to avoid the tag, he was out at the plate.Another zero for his troubles.
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