Key events
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 9th
Carroll lines out to end the top of the ninth. If the Rangers want this to head into extra innings, they need two runs. If they want to win it, they will need three. They will have to do it against Arizona closer Paul Sewald, however.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 9th
Smith faces Perdomo with one out, getting ahead of him 0-2 before throwing two straight balls that Perdomo doesn’t offer at before he grounds out to third. Two away.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 9th
Jon Gray is back out there and he gets Longoria to strike out on three pitches. One away in the top of the 9th. It looks like that will be all for Gray as Will “Not That One” Smith is coming out of the bullpen.
Email from Mark Harrison:
Hey Hunter,
Politely disagree on the aesthetics of the D-backs and the Royals before them. I’d take “small ball” every day of the week over three true outcomes style swinging for the fences. Baseball.is an odd-sport to me in that way, the most effective thing someone can do, the Home Run, is not really that interesting.
Thanks for the email! It’s been a quiet night and I appreciate it!
Yes it’s definitely a matter of preference on my part, but there are different types of smallball teams. Some I enjoy more than others. So far, these Diamondbacks remind me of the 2005 Chicago White Sox and the aforementioned Kansas City Royals, where their success rate seems to outpace the talent on the roster.
Arizona fans should welcome the comparison: both of those teams won championships after all.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 8th
Jung fouls off a pitch, takes a ball and then grounds out on a sinker. It takes Ginkel a lot of work but he gets the job done and keeps Texas off the board. We’re heading to the final inning here!
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 8th
Up next, Lowe takes a ball high. 1-0. He swings at the next pitch but can’t make contact. 1-1. He swings and misses at the next pitch. 1-2. Then he lines one out to Gurriel in left for the second out of the inning. Masterful pitching there from Ginkel when his team needed it. He still needs another out here to complete the job though.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 8th
Heim is up next, he takes two straight balls to start the at-bat. 2-0. Hitter’s count. Heim probably shouldn’t have swung there, that’s a ball that bounced so far that García managed to take second base. On 2-1, Heim takes ball three. 3-1. Heim fouls off the pitch. 3-2. Heim fouls off another fastball, the fifth of the at-bat. Ginkel tries a slider, Heim stays alive by fouling it off. Still 3-2. ANOTHER foul ball. That’s the eighth pitch of the at-bat. The ninth pitch is a borderline pitch that the umpire decides is a ball. The Rangers have runners on first and second with one out.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 8th
Garver is up next with a runner on first and nobody out. He’s potentially the tying run here… except he strikes out swinging on four pitches. So, make that: a runner on first and one out.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 8th
Is Kevin Ginkel there? Yes, yes, he is. He’s here pitching for the Diamondbacks and he will be facing García, who is very much not going to be lifted for a pinch-hitter. García takes a strike and then a ball and then another ball. 2-1. No, make that 3-1 after a Ginkel slider just misses the zone. García thought it was ball four. Nope. Instead, Ginkel gets him to look at a strike. 3-2. García fouls off two attempted payoff pitches, spoiling them both before hitting a solid single to lead off the inning. What a battle between pitcher and hitter!
Extremely important update: I have been informed that the Dead song I couldn’t place was a version of “Althea,” which I’ve only heard 50 times or so rather than 100s so that’s an understandable miss from me.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 8th
Thomas is up with a runner on first and two outs. He gets ahead of the count 3-1 before hitting a pitch foul and out of play for a full count. On 3-2, he strikes out to end the inning.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 8th
Gray gets Gurriel on a 1-2 count but can’t put him away, throwing a pitch outside and then allowing a single to center to keep the Diamondbacks alive in the top of the eighth.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 8th
Tommy Pham, who has hit the only home run of the game, is up next and he looks at a strike. 0-1. Gray goes to his slider for the next pitch, but it bounces in the dirt. 1-1. The next slider isn’t much higher. 2-1. Pham hits the next ball foul to even things out. 2-2. Pham fouls off another pitch to stay alive but strikes out on the very next pitch. Gray stays in to face Gurriel.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 8th
Gray is back out there for the Rangers and he gets Walker out swinging on three pitches.
Confession: I am a failure as a Deadhead. I recognized that the bumper music after the end of the 7th inning was the Grateful Dead but blanked on the song.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 7th
Evan Carter tries to salvage something here at the bottom of the seventh. He takes a ball and fouls off a sinker. 1-1. Carter swings and misses. 1-2. He takes a pitch just off the corner. 2-2. On the next pitch he almost grounds out, but it’s just foul. Never mind, Mantiply induces a pop-up to end the inning. The Rangers now just have six outs left to get two runs. Not ideal, but the game’s not over yet.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 7th
Corey Seagar is back out for the Rangers. No pinch-hitters so far, but that’s probably because the Rangers started with their optimal lineup. Seagar’s at-bat continues in much the same manner as his predecessor, falling behind 1-2. He fouls off the next pitch to keep alive before swinging and missing. That’s two prompt out for Mantiply.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 7th
Joe Mantiply, who has the best last name of any player on either active roster, is up there for the Diamondbacks. He’s here to face Semien, who promptly falls behind 0-2, takes a pitch low for a ball, and then flies out to left.
Seventh inning stretch
As someone who happens to be a creature of habit, I have posted variations of this clip in the seventh-inning stretch at least once per World Series. If I can introduce just one person to the Marx Brothers, it will all be worth it.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 7th
Gray gets a strike swinging and then a strike looking before getting Moreno to lineout. We miss most of the at-bat because FOX is interviewing Gallen for 90% of it. In any case, we’re heading to the seventh-inning stretch
Bullpen roulette continues! Jon Gray is coming out of the pen to face (barring an offensive substitution here) Moreno.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 7th
Bradford is back up to start the seventh with the goal to not let this game get out of hand. A two-run deficit is manageable for these dangerous Rangers but anything more and this becomes very trick. In any case, Carroll hits a bunt back to the pitcher which is not ideal situational hitting given he’s leading off the inning, but Bradford will take it. Marte then drills one to Semien who makes a fabulous throw to get him out at first. Two down just like that.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 6th
Tavares looks at ball one and then fouls a pitch off of him. 1-1. He takes a strike next, a slider that just finds the strike zone at the last nanosecond. 1-2. Thompson is a pitch away from getting out of this potential jam. Tavares fouls off the next two pitches to stay alive but he pops one up to foul territory that’s caught by the catcher. The Rangers fail to score and we’re heading to the seventh inning.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 6th
Jung hits a single, so there’s two on with two out here. Taveras is up next with a chance to chip into Arizona’s lead.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 6th
Nathaniel Lowe is up next. He takes a sinker for a ball and then looks at a sinker that’s right in the strike zone. It’s a strike but it looked very hittable. Lowe doesn’t let up on the next pitch which he hits a very long way but he just gets underneath it so it’s just a scary-looking out number two and not a two-run homer.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 6th
Here’s the problem with Thompson: when he doesn’t have command with the sinker, things can get out of hand. He walks Heim on four pitches. Diamondbacks have a runner on first with one out.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, bottom 6th
It turns out that Gallen’s day is indeed over. Ryan Thompson is out pitching for Arizona, facing Thompson. Garver looks at a sinkerball strike and then a sinkerball ball. 1-1. I love Thompson’s funky delivery here, he crouches a bit and then sort of throws a wonky a breaker that, ideally, the hitter can’t pick up. Garver grounds out on the third one he sees to start the bottom of the sixth.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 6th
Perdomo fouls off a pitch and then takes a ball. Then he takes another ball. We’re at a 2-1 count here. He then takes another ball. 3-1. Thomas steal a base, that’s the fourth of the game for Arizona. Perdomo takes a strike 3-2. He thought he had first base there. He then lines out to second to end the inning.
And Dunning is out, he’s faced the minimum of three batters and it looks like Cory Bradford is coming out of the bullpen.
If I happen to call him Chad Bradford at any point I apologize in advance. I have a lot of obscure Red Sox pitchers in my brain taking up space.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 6th
Longoria flies out on a 2-2 pitch for the second out of the inning. The sneakily productive Perdomo is up next.
Diamondbacks 5-3 Rangers, top 6th
Thomas takes a ball, two sinkers for strikes and then manages to outrun yet another infield single.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
