Friday's Games Gave Us Everything We Could Ask For

Wow.

Thirty minutes after the end of the Phillies-Diamondbacks game and I’m still buzzing. We were treated to two crazy, crazy good, wild, controversial, contentious, exhilarating postseason games on Friday. And that’s if you weren’t rooting for one of the four teams playing.

If you were rooting for one of the teams, the games were also nauseating, exciting, anxiety-producing, hopeful, or depressing.

This is why we watch sports. This is why we hang on every pitch. This is why we love baseball.

On Friday, baseball loved us back.

What happened? Here’s just a glimpse of the end of each game.

Astros came from down 4-2 in the 9th to beat the Rangers 5-4 on a 3-run home run by—who else—Jose Altuve off Rangers closer Jose Leclerc. I’m beginning to think that Altuve is some sort of postseason wizard, possessed of special powers, timing and flare. How else do you explain a 5’5” player hitting 26 postseason home runs in his career? Three more postseason home runs by Altuve will tie him with Manny Ramirez for most career postseason home runs in MLB history. Incredible.

In the second game, the Diamondbacks came from down 5-3 in the 8th to beat the Phillies 6-5. With a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on second base after a double, and one out, Alek Thomas pinch hit for Emmanuel Rivera and sent a 94 mph fastball from Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel over the right field wall and into the pool. Splash. Phillies manager stuck with Kimbrel for 3 more batters—strike out, single, hit by pitch. Then Jose Alvarado came in and gave up a single to Gabby Moreno to give the D’Backs a 6-5 lead.

Sarah Langs cut to the chase:

There were so many twists and turns in each game that set up the game-winning home runs. I’m not going to recap the games because my words can’t do them justice. If you didn’t watch one game or the other, or both, go watch the condensed games over on MLB.com. Here’s the link to the 12-minute condensed Astros-Rangers game. Here’s the link to the 11-minute condensed Phillies-Diamondbacks game.

When you’re done watching the condensed games, or the highlights, or reading a game story, come back here because I want to talk about a few twists and turns and some strategic decisions made by the managers.

Should Bruce Bochy have put the bunt sign on for Marcus Semien in the 9th?

After the Astros took a 5-4 lead in the top of the 9th, the Rangers put themselves in a position to win the game in the bottom of the 9th. Mitch Garver singled to open the inning. Josh Smith came in as a pinch runner for Garver. Then Jonah Heim singled, putting Smith on 2nd base. That brought up the top of the order.

Marcus Semien is the Rangers’ lead off batter. He had 185 hits in the regular season, the most among American League players. But he’s struggled in this postseason, going 7-for-43 with 3 walks. He’s faced Astros closer Ryan Pressley 11 times in his career and gotten 4 hits, plus a walk.

Once the game was over, my friend (and paid subscriber) Gary sent me a message asking why Bochy didn’t give Semien the bunt sign. My immediate response? You know Bochy hates to bunt! (Gary is also a longstanding Giants fan).

But I was intrigued by the question and dug a little deeper.

Semien hasn’t laid down a successful sacrifice bunt since the 2018 season, when he did it twice for the A’s. Of course, position player practice bunting every spring training. But if the manager doesn’t like the bunt play, the players aren’t going to practice it during the season. This season the Rangers had zero sacrifice bunts. Zero.

Going for a sacrifice bunt in that situation raises the odds of tying the game but not necessarily of winning the game in that inning. Bochy had already used his best relievers—Josh Sborz, Aroldis Chapman, and Leclerc—so if the Rangers had tied the game in the 9th, who was going to pitch the 10th? All the relievers who crapped the bed in Games 3 and 4?

Bochy made the right move. Semien scalded the ball. Unfortunately, it landed in the glove of Grae Kessinger. Who? “Who the heck is Grae Kessinger?” I exclaimed to my empty house. Apparently, he’s a rookie backup infielder, although I choose to believe he’s one of Altuve’s postseason fairies. He’d come in to the game as a pinch runner in the 8th and scored on Altuve’s game-winning home run.

Grae Kessinger. Man, I love this game.

Did Rob Thomson pull starter Cristopher Sanchez too soon?

It’s easy to point the finger at Craig Kimbrel as the reason the Phillies lost the game. He gave up the game-tying home run to Alex Thomas in the 8th and then allowed a single to Ketel Marte, who eventually came around to score the winning run.

Why was Kimbrel pitching in the 8th inning in the first place? It appears to have been a demotion of sorts, after Kimbrel took the loss in Game 3 by loading the bases in a tie game and giving up a single by Ketel Marte.

Sure. But part of the reason Kimbrel pitched at all is that Phillies manager Rob Thomson had burned through 5 relievers before the 8th inning because he lifted starter Cristopher Sanchez with 1 out in the 3rd inning. At that point, the D’Backs had a 1-0 lead. Marte was on third base with one out. Thomson lifted Sanchez and put in Jeff Hoffman. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. greeted Hoffman was a single to right field, scoring Marte.

Sanchez is a lefty. Hoffman is a righty. Thomson apparently wanted a righty to face Gurriel, who bats from the right side. But Sanchez had no trouble retiring Gurriel in the 2nd inning. And he’d only thrown 38 pitches—well below his average pitches per outing this season.

Was Thomson that worried about Arizona scoring 2 runs? With his offense? I know it’s easy to look back with 20/20 hindsight and say it was a mistake. But if you’re going to pull your starter that soon, you have to think through all of the possible ways of getting from 1 out in the 3rd to the end of the game.

Now the Phillies send Zack Wheeler to the mound to try to do in Game 5 what he did in Game 1. D’Backs Zac Gallen is looking for redemption after pitching a dud in Game 1. This season, Gallen pitched like an ace at home. He posted a 2.47 ERA at Chase Field, compared to a 4.42 ERA on the road.