Diamondbacks at Phillies NLCS Game 2 Preview

The Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies square off for Game 2 of the National League Championship tonight at 8:07 MST, 5:07 Arizona Time. The game is at Citizens Bank Park and will be broadcast on TBS.

Last night the Phillies took Game 1 by a score of 5-3, getting to Zac Gallen early for a 5-0 lead and then holding on as the D-backs rally fell short.

Asked about the importance of tonight's game and going for the split Torey Lovullo had this to say:

"Yeah, I think it's a pretty important game. I felt the same way about yesterday's game. Yeah, you have a couple of thoughts in mind as you go into a series. Split, get home, see what you can do, create a little bit of distance between you and your opponent.....But there is importance to this game. I think if we can come into their building and split -- and that's all we can do right now, we can't go backwards -- I think it would give us a really good push start for the next three at home"

Pitching Matchup

Merrill Kelly is making his second start of the postseason. He went 6.1 innings of shutout baseball against the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLDS. Earlier today we wrote about the need for Kelly to step up and be the stopper in Game 2.

Don't let Aaron Nola's regular season ERA fool you. He's still a very good pitcher and has been great in two postseason starts this year, going 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 12.2 innings. Those followed three strong starts to finish out his regular season. Nola is another strike thrower who gets plenty of strikeouts and doesn't walk batters. He is prone to the long ball however, giving up a career high 32. Here again though, he's only given up one over his last five outings.

Lineups

Both teams are going with the same lineups they used last night. Nick Castellanos has five homers in his last three games. The last player to have five homers in a three game playoff span was Reggie Jackson in over the final three games of the 1977 world series.

So far Michael McDermott's article on key players who could decide the series has seemed prophetic, at least on the position player side. He identified Kyle Schwarber and Geraldo Perdomo. Schwarber hit the first pitch of the game last night for a homer and it was Perdomo's two-run homer in the 6th inning that got the D-backs back in the game.

Bullpens

The Diamondbacks high leverage relievers, Paul Sewald, Kevin Ginkely, Ryan Thompson and Andrew Saalfrank did not pitch in last night's games. Ginkel warmed up however and would have gotten into the game had it gotten to within a one run deficit Lovullo said.

"The way I'm looking at it is we're going to have four games in five days or six days, whatever it will turn out to be. I need to preserve the back end guys. Thompson, Saalfrank, Ginkel, and Sewald. I expect them to get a lot of work here in the next several days. If they do get work, that's a good thing because that means we're ahead."

The Phillies used three of their high leverage relievers last night, including Seranthony Dominguez, Jose Alvararez, and Craig Kimbrel. They were not overtaxed after a three-day layoff however, throwing just 15-16 pitches.

Pitching Matchup

Lineups

Bullpens

It's Merrill Kelly's Turn to be the Stopper