PHOENIX — The D-backs beat LA! The Arizona Diamondbacks are heading to their first National League Championship Series since 2007 after sweeping the N.L. Division Series with a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Three Wednesday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Chase Field.
The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the third inning when Arizona's offense erupted.
It started with a leadoff home run by shortstop Geraldo Perdomo over the right field fence. Two batters later, second baseman Ketel Marte hit his first home run of the postseason to make it 2-0 Diamondbacks. That was followed two batters later by Christian Walker hitting a 395-foot line drive home run to left.
That set the stage for catcher Gabriel Moreno. On the fourth pitch of his at-bat, Moreno launched a ball to deep right, which originally appeared to be a home run, but was ruled foul after a review showed that it went just right of the right field foul pole. However, on the very next pitch, Moreno hit a 420-foot home run to deep center giving the D-backs a four-run advantage.
The Diamondbacks are the first team to ever hit four home runs in one inning in MLB postseason history.
The D-backs would hold the Dodgers scoreless until the bottom of the seventh inning when the Dodgers tried to stage a rally, as L.A. outfielder Chris Taylor hit an RBI single off D-backs reliever Ryan Thompson. In the next at-bat, L.A. outfielder Kiké Hernández added to the Dodgers' tally with an RBI single of his own to make it 4-2 Diamondbacks. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo pulled Thompson after that, and Andrew Saalfrank came in to end the Dodger seventh.
D-backs closer Paul Sewald was called upon to close the game in the top of the ninth. Sewald struck out Max Muncy, before giving up a single to Chris Taylor, which brought the tying run to the plate for L.A. Chris Taylor flew out to center and Kiké Hernández flew out to left to end the game and keep Arizona's season alive.
The Diamondbacks will face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. Philadelphia beat the Atlanta Braves in four games in their NL Division Series.
The Diamondbacks have played in the NLCS twice before. In 2001, they beat the Braves 4-1 and would then go on to beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. In 2007, the D-backs were swept by the Colorado Rockies in the NLCS.
Game One of the NLCS will be on Monday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
This will be the first-ever meeting between the D-backs and Phillies in the postseason.
Clubhouse Celebration
D-backs Pool Party
Postgame Reaction
Zac Gallen
Merrill Kelly
Tommy Pham
Kevin Ginkel
Ketel Marte
Geraldo Perdomo
Evan Longoria
Christian Walker
Alek Thomas
Luis Gonzalez
Derrick Hall
Ken Kendrick
Sports
Watch more of the latest sports videos on the 12News YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe!