Phillies at Diamondbacks NLCS Game 3 Preview

The Arizona Diamondbacks host the Philadelphia Phillies for Game 3 of the National League Championship series at Chase Field. First pitch is at 2:07 P.M. Arizona time, 5:07 EST. The game is broadcasted on TBS. Philadelphia leads the series two games to none after defeating the D-backs 5-3 and 10-0 in front of Citizens Bank Park's rabid fans.

Owing to the mid day start time and perhaps the fact that the Phillies have outclassed the D-backs so far in this series, the game is not a sellout. As of 10 AM this morning there were still a lot of tickets for today's game available on the team's website, and prices on the secondary market have crashed as well. As such the anecdotal evidence suggests Phillies fans are flocking to valley to swoop up cheap tickets. Putting up a zero in the first inning and getting the bats going early will be crucial to getting the home fans excited and vocal in this game.

Pitching Matchup

Ranger Suarez spent a total of 59 days on the injured list this season with both hamstring and arm injuries. He was fairly effective during the regular in his 22 starts. Despite getting knocked around in his two final regular season starts, he was very effective against the Braves in the Divisional series. He went 3.2 scoreless innings in game one, giving up just one hit and four strikeouts before giving way to the bullpen. Five days later he went five innings giving up just one run on three hits to get the victory in the series clincher.

Suarez throws both a four seamer and sinker that average around 93 MPH. the sinker gets well above average vertical drop leading to his 54% ground ball rate, well above the league average 42%. His curveball to right-hand batters has been especially effective this year, as he's allowed just a .143 batting average and .170 slugging against on the pitch.

Brandon Pfaadt's story is well documented on these pages. Crushed in his first two call-ups to the majors, he has been much better since returning for the third time. He is a fly ball, homer prone pitcher however and it is imperative that he hit his spots and keep the ball out of the center of the plate against a Phillies lineup that is hunting mistake pitches in the middle of the zone. They've hit 19 homers in eight post season games so far.

Pfaadt had a strong outing against the Dodgers in the game three clincher of the NLDS, throwing 4.1 scoreless innings on just 42 pitches before giving way to the bullpen.

Lineups

Suarez has very strong platoon splits for his career, with a .754 OPS against right hand batters but just .515 against left. That has held true in 2023 as well. Accordingly Tommy Pham will be in right field today, with Corbin Carroll shifted over to center in place of Alek Thomas. Lovullo has also changed the order, moving Gabriel Moreno up to third, dropping Pham and Gurriel Jr. down the order

Bullpens

So far never having had a lead, none of Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel or Paul Sewald have gotten into a game this series. Andrew Saalfrank has appeared in one game to get one out. Expect a short hook at the first sign of trouble for Pfaadt and these pitchers will be getting into the game ahead of schedule if necessary to keep the D-backs in it. Prior to the game Torey Lovullo made his strategy clear.

"I'm not going to worry about tomorrow. We got to win this game today, that's it, plain and simple. During the season, you can say, hey, we're going to be okay. We don't have time to be okay. We have to do it right now."

Tuesday's blowout victory allowed Rob Thomson to rest his high leverage bullpen. Closer Craig Kimbrel appeared in Game 1 on Monday.