Phillies at Diamondbacks NLCS Game 4 Preview

Two bullpen games on tap for an MLB marquee event

The Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks square off for game four of the National League Championship Series at 5:07 P.M. Arizona Time. Philadelphia leads the series two games to one. Yesterday the Diamondbacks walked off the Phillies on a base hit by Ketel Marte with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th.

Pitching Matchup

Other than designating lefty reliever Joe Mantiply as his starter, Torey Lovullo would not disclose any further details about his strategy. We wrote earlier today what that might look like, and we expect at least six or seven pitchers to be used to navigate this game for Arizona.  Mantiply is likely to pitch one inning maximum. 

On the Philadelphia side the starter will be Christopher Sanchez. He made 18 starts this year, and in 99 innings posted a 3.44 ERA. Sanchez had an excellent strikeout to walk ratio, 96 to 16, but also gave up 16 homers. His change up is his best pitch. He last started on September 24th and has not pitched in a game at all since October first. 

Indications from Phillies manager Rob Thomson are that he is not expecting a lot of length from Sanchez. While he may go longer than Joe Mantiply, don't be surprised to see former Diamondback Taijuan Walker pitch at least two or three innings in this game.  Walker has also not pitched yet this postseason and had a rough September, posting a 5.93 ERA over his final five games.  Walker was a 15 game winner however, and posted a season long 4.38 ERA in 173 innings. 

Lineups

Both managers are using the same lineups as yesterday. For the Diamondbacks it's critical that Gabriel Moreno and Christian Walker break out of their mini slumps. Batting 3rd and 4th in the order, Moreno is 2-for-11 with four strikeouts in the NLCS so far, and Walker is 1-for-9 without an RBI.  Outside of Ketel Marte who is 6-for-13, .462 ,  no other Diamondbacks has more than two hits in the series. 

The Phillies have outscored Arizona 16-5 and out homered them 6-1 in the first three games of the series. Four different Phillies have an OPS over 1.000, including Kyle Schwarber, 1.600 (3 HR),  Trea Turner, 1.300, Bryce Harper 1.205, and Brandon Marsh, 1.050.

Bullpens

Craig Kimbrel has already worked twice in the series, and took the loss last night. So far he's given up two hits and three walks in 1.1 innings of work.  Jose Alvarado has thrown 3.1 innings in two games, without giving up a run.  Seranthony Dominguez and Matt Strahm figure to get into tonight's game, having worked just once each. 

Paul Sewald and Kevin Ginkel have each worked in just one game this series, so if the bullpen game reliever  can bridge to the 8th inning with a lead Ginkel and Sewald should be available for try to close out tonight's game. 

How Might Diamondbacks Bullpen Game Play Out?