NLDS: Arizona beats LA 4-2; Braves rally for 5-4 win over Phillies
LOS ANGELES — Not many people picked the Arizona Diamondbacks to beat Milwaukee in the NL Wild Card Series. Even fewer pegged them to take down the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the Division Series.
Surprise! After a rough ending to the regular season, the upstart youngsters from the desert are sailing through the playoffs.
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Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and the Diamondbacks made quick work of another Dodgers starter, beating Los Angeles 4-2 on Monday night behind Zac Gallen for a 2-0 lead in their NLDS.
“Why would we play with anything to lose?” closer Paul Sewald said. “We were the sixth seed. We weren’t supposed to win in Milwaukee. No one is going to pick us to beat the Dodgers when we haven’t played well against them. We’re going out there with a lot of confidence.”
The D-backs, who earned the final National League wild card despite losing their last four regular-season games, improved to 4-0 in these playoffs — all on the road against division winners. They were 5-8 against the Dodgers during the regular season, losing the final five meetings.
“These guys are very hungry and they feel like they have a lot to prove,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said.
They’ll try for a stunning sweep of the NL West champions when the best-of-five series shifts to Phoenix for Game 3 on Wednesday.
“It’s two games, but our backs are against the wall,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve got to make some type of adjustments and we have no more margin.”
Gallen allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings for his second win of the postseason. Gurriel laced an RBI single to cap a three-run first, and the Diamondbacks chased rookie starter Bobby Miller in the second.
“I don’t think it’s any secret we’ve come in here and struggled,” Gallen said. “It was good for us just mentally to come in here and set the tone, have a little faith in ourselves.”
The early outburst came two nights after Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw was tagged for six runs while getting only one out during Arizona’s 11-2 rout in Game 1.
Gurriel added a solo homer in the sixth to make it 4-1. Sewald pitched a perfect ninth for his third save of the postseason, aided by a nice catch from Gurriel in left field.
Gallen retired nine in a row during one stretch in his second career postseason start. The 17-game winner gave up five hits, struck out four and walked two.
Arizona’s hitters weren’t intimidated by Miller’s 100 mph heat in his playoff debut. They loaded the bases with nobody out and got a sacrifice fly from Christian Walker and an RBI groundout from Gabriel Moreno before Gurriel’s two-out single made it 3-0.
Kershaw and Miller worked a combined two innings and gave up nine earned runs.
Braves rally for 5-4 win over Phillies on d’Arnaud, Riley homers
ATLANTA (AP) — Baseball’s most potent group of sluggers finally got into the swing of things — maybe just in time to save the season for the Atlanta Braves.
Throw in a game-ending double play for the ages, courtesy of a remarkable catch by Michael Harris II and some astute positioning by Austin Riley, and suddenly this 104-win team has gone from down and out to showing a little postseason swagger.
Travis d’Arnaud and Riley hit two-run homers as the Braves, who were held without a hit into the sixth inning, rallied from a four-run deficit to stun the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 Monday night, evening the NL Division Series at one win apiece.
“It was really emotional, especially the way we came back,” d’Arnaud said. “That was one of my favorite postseason games ever.”
D’Arnaud, who started at catcher over slumping Sean Murphy, gave the Braves hope with his shot into the left-field seats in the seventh, cutting Philadelphia’s lead to 4-3.
It was Atlanta’s first extra-base hit of the series.
Riley provided the second, driving a 3-2 pitch from Jeff Hoffman (0-1) into the Phillies bullpen with two outs in the eighth to put the Braves ahead for the first time in the best-of-five series. Ronald Acuña Jr. scored ahead of Riley after being plunked on the left arm by Hoffman’s first pitch coming in from the bullpen.
“I just have faith in those guys,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “You know what? They give you a hard 27 (outs). … They’re never going to stop fighting in the batter’s box.”
It ended in equally stunning fashion. With Bryce Harper aboard, Nick Castellanos drove one to deep right-center, only to be robbed on a great leaping catch by Harris slamming into the fence.