Ketel Marte plays hero as D-backs top Phillies in NLCS Game 3 - ESPN

PHOENIX — With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 3 on Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks got the matchup they wanted.

Their hottest hitter strode to the plate against Philadelphia Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel, who was trying to grind his way out of a jam. Ketel Marte wasn't having any of it.

The Diamondbacks second baseman turned on a rising 96 mph fastball, sending it into right-center field to break a 1-1 tie and deliver Arizona a 2-1 win — its first of this National League Championship Series.

Chase Field exploded.

«I'm not a pressure guy,» Marte said later. «I know what kind of hitter I am. He threw me a fastball up and I put a good swing.»

The victory breathed life into the Diamondbacks, who now trail 2-1 in this best-of-seven series with Games 4 and 5 scheduled for at home Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Marte has six of Arizona's 17 hits (35%) this NLCS, tied for the fifth-highest percentage through three games of a playoff series all time.

«I played against him a lot when I was in San Diego,» teammate Tommy Pham said. «He always hit. Very hard guy to defend.»

The winning run scored after a tense game featuring a pitchers' duel from starters Brandon Pfaadt and Ranger Suarez, both of whom left without giving up a run. Pfaadt struck out nine over 5.2 innings, yielding just two hits and no walks and becoming the fifth rookie in major league history with nine-plus strikeouts and no runs allowed in a postseason game. He was denied a chance to face the top of the order a third time, including Kyle Schwarber, whom he had struck out twice.

«He was great,» Pham said of Pfaadt. «If anything, I would have left him in. You don't want to take out a guy like that with so much momentum on our side.