2023 National League Wild Card Series 1

2023 National League Wild Card Series

Arizona Diamondbacks 84 - 78 in the NL	2 - 0 Series Summary	Milwaukee Brewers 92 - 70 in the NL

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Brewers: Craig Counsell | Diamondbacks: Torey Lovullo

Brewers

Diamondbacks

Umpires[edit]

Mark Ripperger, Dan Bellino, Alan Porter, Mike Estabrook, Chris Segal, Sean Barber

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Arizona Diamondbacks 6 Milwaukee Brewers 3	October 3	Brandon Pfaadt (0-0) Corbin Burnes (0-1)	7:08 pm
2	Arizona Diamondbacks 5 Milwaukee Brewers 2	October 4	Zac Gallen (1-0) Freddy Peralta (0-1)	7:08 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ American Family Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Diamondbacks	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	2	6	9	0
Brewers	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	12	0
WP: Joe Mantiply (1-0); LP: Corbin Burnes (0-1); SV: Paul Sewald (1)
Home Runs: MIL - Tyrone Taylor (1); ARI - Corbin Carroll (1), Ketel Marte (1), Gabriel Moreno (1)

Attendance: 40,892

Having only clinched a postseason slot on the season's penultimate day, the Diamondbacks came into the series at a distinct disadvantage, since neither of their best two starting pitchers, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, were available to start Game 1. Thus manager Torey Lovullo had to give the ball to raw rookie Brandon Pfaadt, whose numbers were not really impressive, but who had pitched well of late after a rough start to his major league career. There were no such qualms for the Brewers, given that ace Corbin Burnes was starting, although they had learned the day before that their second-best starter, Brandon Woodruff, would not be available for this series, making winning the opener even more imperative. And as is often the case in postseason baseball, the game did not go according to script.

At first, things unfurled as expected, as Burnes was solid in the first two innings, while Pfaadt seemed overwhelmed by the situation. In the bottom of the 1st, he walked Christian Yelich to start things off and William Contreras and Carlos Santana followed with singles for a 1-0 lead before a single out had been recorded. However, in what would become a pattern in this game, the Brewers failed to take advantage when they had Arizona on the ropes, as Pfaadt struck out the next three batters to escape with only that small deficit, even if he had to work extremely hard to limit damages. The 2nd inning was another rough one for the youngster, as Josh Donaldson led off with a single, was bunted over to second by Brice Turang, and Tyrone Taylor followed with a homer for a 3-0 lead. It looked at that point that Milwaukee would cruise to a win, but the Diamondbacks replied immediately: Geraldo Perdomo singled with one out in the top of the 3rd, then on consecutive pitches from Burnes, Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte both homered, with Marte's shot being a vicious line drive to right field that probably never went higher than 50 feet. Suddenly, the ball game was tied.

The Brewers wasted another big opportunity in the bottom of the 3rd when Sal Frelick singled with one out and Willie Adames doubled. Pfaadt got Donaldson to pop up to shallow center for the second out, then gave way to Joe Mantiply who walked Turang to load the bases before getting Taylor to ground out, leaving the sacks full. And the D-Backs replied immediately when rookie Gabriel Moreno led off the 4th with a homer to center field, putting Arizona in the lead for the first time. The Brewers would have plenty of opportunities to come back, but that slight lead would hold until the end of the game. Burnes left the game after walking the first two batters in the 5th, his outing coming well short of what the Brewers had been expecting, but reliever Abner Uribe kept Arizona from adding to its lead with a pair of ground balls and a strikeout sandwiched around a third walk. Then the Brewers wasted an even bigger opportunity in the bottom of that inning after the first three batters, Sal Frelick, Willie Adames and Donaldson all singled to load the bases with no one out. It looked like Ryne Nelson had hit Turang's foot with a pitch to force in the tying run, but the Diamondbacks asked for a video review that overturned the initial call, and given a reprieve, Nelson struck out Turang for the first out. Ryan Thompson then took over on the mound and in the best defensive play of the game, Taylor hit a sharp liner down the third base line, but veteran Evan Longoria, looking ten years younger than his age, made a great diving catch, then threw to second base to complete an inning-ending double play.

That fruitless inning deflated the Brewers, and there was no more scoring until the 9th. With the Diamondbacks still holding on to a short 4-3 lead, Brewers manager Craig Counsell elected to send in closer Devin Williams to keep the score close, but the strategy blew up in his face, Williams did not have his best control and walked Perdomo and Carroll back-to-back to start things off. He managed to strike out Marte for the first out, and Perdomo was caught stealing at third base on a double steal attempt, but Williams could not record the third out. A wild pitch advanced Carroll another 90 feet, Tommy Pham drew the third walk of the inning then stole second, and with a full count, Christian Walker hit a ball to the center field wall, driving in both runners, and ending any hope of a Milwaukee comeback. D-Backs closer Paul Sewald pitched the 9th, with only Mark Canha reaching base when he was hit by a pitch with two outs, and Arizona had a 6-3 win.

Game 2 @ American Family Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Diamondbacks	0	0	0	0	1	4	0	0	0	5	6	0
Brewers	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	0
WP: Zac Gallen (1-0); LP: Freddy Peralta (0-1); SV: Paul Sewald (2)
Home Runs: ARI - Alek Thomas (1)

Attendance: 41,166

Game 2 was in many ways a repeat of Game 1, with the Brewers taking an early lead, and then being unable to hold it as the Diamondbacks mounted a comeback and kept Milwaukee's bats quiet after some early damage. And the final result was similar, with Arizona holding on for a 5-2 win, with closer Paul Sewald recording a second save, and the Brewers being eliminated at home. On the mound, Milwaukee had another very dependable starter in Freddy Peralta while Arizona could send one of its two aces, Zac Gallen, after he had been unavailable for Game 1.

Milwaukee drew first blood in the bottom of the 1st when Christian Yelich led off with a single, Carlos Santana drew a one-out walk, and Mark Canha loaded the bases with another single. Milwaukee had a tremendous opportunity to notch a big inning, but with the heart of the order coming up, could not get the big hit that would have blown the game open: Sal Frelick hit a sacrifice fly, and Willy Adames followed with a single, and Arizona was happy to escape with only a two-run deficit. The score remained 2-0 for a while as Gallen settled down after this initial hiccup, and Peralta was rolling along through the first four innings. The main incident in those innings was that D-backs catcher Gabriel Moreno was hit on the helmet by a back-swing from Tyrone Taylor in the 2nd and had to leave the game, replaced by back-up José Herrera. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Brewers had a chance to add to their lead, as they put two runners on base with one out, but Frelick grounded into a double play to end the inning. Josh Donaldson then also hit into a double play in the 4th.

As had been the case the night before, it was a long ball that got Arizona on the scoreboard, in this case a two-out solo shot to right field by Alek Thomas in the 5th inning. The Brewers still led at that point, but now only 2-1, as they had wasted their opportunities to add some insurance runs. In the 6th, Geraldo Perdomo drew a lead-off walk and Corbin Carroll followed with a double. Ketel Marte drove in both runners and put the D-Backs in the lead for the first time with a single to center, ending Peralta's stint on the mound. He was replaced by Abner Uribe, but Arizona's bats continued to pound. Tommy Pham greeted Uribe with a single, putting runners on the corners, but the Brewers almost limited the damage when Christian Walker hit a grounder to 3B Donaldson. He threw Marte out at homer, but Walker barely beat the throw to first base, so there was still just one out. Uribe then walked Herrera to load the bases and Pham scored on a wild pitch before Lourdes Gurriel singled to make it 5-2. Hoby Milner replaced Uribe, and he was finally able to end the inning by getting Thomas to ground into a double play, but the damage had been done. With a 5-2 lead, Arizona was now in the driver's seat.

Gallen left after pitching a scoreless bottom of the 6th, replaced by Ryan Thompson, and the bullpen once again was able to keep Milwaukee in check. However, they did mount one final attempt, against Kevin Ginkel in the 8th inning, loading the bases on three singles with one out. Andrew Saalfrank replaced Ginkel and got Frelick to hit a grounder back to him, on which Yelich was forced out at home. It was the third time Frelick had failed to come up with a hit in a key situation in this game, dooming the Brewers. The inning ended when the next batter, Adames, hit another grounder. In the 9th Sewald hit leadoff hitter Donaldson with a pitch and after a couple of outs, Yelich doubled, but the lead runner stopped at third base and Sewald then struck out William Contreras to end the game and the series.