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PHILADELPHIA — Under the weight of postseason baseball, little things become big things in a hurry.
For the late-game delirium of Tuesday’s 10-0 decimation of the Diamondbacks in Game 2 of the NLCS, matters were far less in hand for the Phillies when Bryson Stott stepped into the box in the sixth inning.
The Phillies led 3-0. Fans were stirred up by Kyle Schwarber’s second homer of the game to lead off the inning. But Trea Turner’s walk left a man on first with two outs when Arizona manager Torey Lovullo went to get starting pitcher Merrill Kelly.
In came lefty Joe Mantiply to face Stott. But Stott, 2-for-3 career against Mantiply and hitting two points higher against lefties that righties at .282 this season, jumped on a 1-0 sinker and singled to center.
“I think the lineup is lefty-righty, lefty-righty. It’s hard to play matchups, especially with the new rule,” Stott said. “If it’s a lefty, you still want to take your same at-bat and give it to the next guy, and I was able to sneak one through the middle there and get on for J.T. and Nick, and they came through.”
With Stott on board, the Diamondbacks’ problems only Mantiplied.
J.T. Realmuto roped a two-run double to left-center. An intentional walk to Nick Castellanos was followed by a Brandon Marsh double just inside the bag at third, another clutch lefty-on-lefty hit for a team that hit .256 against southpaws.
“I thought that Joe Mantiply has been throwing the ball real good,” Lovullo explained. “It’s a great matchup. All the information that I have and everything that’s showing me statistically that Joe is going to get under a barrel, and we’re going to get back in the dugout down 3-0.”
So instead of 3-0, and a shot at a bullpen that used its highest leverage arms a night earlier, it became 6-0. And when the Phillies batted around again in the seventh, 10-0.
“There is no crystal ball, right? I wish there was,” Lovullo said. “I’ll be second-guessing myself too. That’s what we do.”
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There was a palpable exhale for Alec Bohm when he saw his two-run double split the gap in the eighth inning, in part because he’d already contributed so much over two games despite not having a hit.
Bohm is hitting the ball on the screws, with a pair of lineouts in Game 1. He drove a liner 396 feet to dead center in the first inning of Game 2 that Corbin Carroll tracked down. So getting one to find the turf in the outfield to make it 8-0 felt pretty good.
“It’s good to see one fall,” Bohm said. “Results come and go, and we try not to get too caught up in that.”
Even before the double, Bohm has impacted this NLCS with his glove. His snare of a Lourdes Gurriel hot shot turned into Monday’s game-ending double play. He sprawled in the second inning Tuesday to steal extra bases from Gabriel Moreno, throwing across the diamond from his knees to retire the catcher. Less heralded was a play in the fourth, snatching a Tommy Pham shot into the hole and throwing to second base to get the lead runner, Stott stretching to secure the throw.
Defense had been an early career bugaboo for Bohm. But he’s steadily improved at the hot corner, which only accentuates the value of his bat.
“Whether you’re getting hits or not, producing on offense or not, that doesn’t affect defense,” he said. “I know as much as I want to do something with the bat, that time will come. But I can always play defense.”
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NOTES >> Carroll, the Diamondbacks 50-steal man, has reached to lead off both Games 1 and 2. He made nary a move to swipe second in either. Aaron Nola’s slide-step helped control it Tuesday. Lovullo: “He was slide-stepping every pitch to keep him there, and a little bit of what we talked about last night. I didn’t want to run into an out. I want to be aggressive. It’s definitely in our DNA, and we know how to do it.” … Schwarber’s two home runs tied him with Reggie Jackson for the most in postseason history by a left-handed batter at 18.
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