PHOENIX (AP) — More than 15 minutes after the game, Ketel Marte stood at his clubhouse locker, gulping water while trying to finally catch his breath after delivering the Arizona Diamondbacks’ latest clutch postseason moment.
“After my hit, I sprinted so hard,” Marte said, shaking his head.
Marte capped a three-hit afternoon with a walk-off single in the ninth, rookie Brandon Pfaadt pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the Diamondbacks closed to 2-1 in the NL Championship Series by rallying to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on Thursday.
On the verge of falling behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven matchup, Arizona tied the score on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s RBI double in the seventh.
Gurriel opened the ninth with a leadoff walk against Craig Kimbrel, stole second and took third on Pavin Smith’s infield single.
Gurriel was thrown out at the plate by shortstop Trea Turner on Emmanuel Rivera’s hard-hit grounder as the Phillies played the infield in. Geraldo Perdomo walked after falling behind 1-2 in the count and Marte — one of the few Diamondbacks who has looked comfortable at the plate this series — hit a liner that fell in front of center fielder Johan Rojas, sending the D-backs onto the field in celebration.
“I felt like I could make some pitches to get us out of it,” Kimbrel said. “Sometimes you get them. Some days you don’t. Today just wasn’t that day.”
Marte said he wasn’t nervous during his at-bat. The 30-year-old is hitting .382 with four doubles, two homers and five RBIs in eight postseason games this year and has a 12-game postseason hitting streak.
“I’m not a pressure guy,” Marte said. “I know what kind of hitter I am.”
It was the third postseason walk-off win for the Diamondbacks after series-winning hits by Tony Womack’s in the 2001 Division Series and Luis Gonzalez in 2001 World Series.
Defending NL champion Philadelphia had opened the postseason 7-1 and outscored the Diamondbacks 15-3 over two games at Citizens Bank Park, hitting six homers.
Bryce Harper put the Phillies ahead in the seventh when he scored on Ryan Thompson’s wild pitch.
“We are here at their place,” Harper said. “They played a really good game today. I thought both sides had good defense, good pitching. Just got to move on as soon as possible.”
After throwing 4 1/3 scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS clincher, Pfaadt struck out nine and allowed two hits against the Phillies with a mid-90s fastball and a nifty sweeper that had hitters chasing. The 25-year-old right-hander became the first pitcher in postseason history to have two straight outings giving up no runs and no walks.
“It was fun — I had a lot of things working,” Pfaadt said. “I was able to hone in on a few things, execute the way I wanted and get some big outs.”
Pfaadt combined with Andrew Saalfrank, Thompson, Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald on a three-hitter. Sewald, who got the win, stranded Harper on second in the ninth when Alec Bohm took a called third strike.
