Monday brought the World Series back to Chase Field in Phoenix for the first time since Game 7 of the 2001 Fall Classic. The 48,517 in attendance were ready for a party, but the Texas Rangers put a swift stop to that, scoring early and coming up with clutch defence en route to a 3-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 3 of the World Series.
The Rangers now hold a 2-1 lead in the Series with Games 4 and 5 set for Tuesday and Wednesday in Arizona. As strange as it sounds, that’s probably right where the Rangers want things. The club is 9-0 on the road during these playoffs and now owns the record for most road wins in a single post-season in MLB history.
Corey Seager continued his October brilliance by launching a two-run homer in the third inning on Monday that stood up as the game-winner. It wasn’t all roses for the Rangers, though, as starter Max Scherzer (back tightness) and right-fielder Adolis Garcia (left-side tightness) both exited the game due to injury.
That certainly bears watching as the World Series progresses, but for now, here are some takeaways from Game 3.
The Jon Gray Game
Scherzer, making his third start of the post-season after a five-week absence due to a right teres major strain, tossed three scoreless innings on Monday but was removed after taking his warm-up pitches in the fourth inning.
Being forced to dip into their bullpen so early — on the day before a potential bullpen game on Tuesday, no less — could have spelled disaster for the Rangers. However, right-hander Jon Gray quickly stabilized everything for manager Bruce Bochy.
Gray allowed just one hit and struck out three across three shutout innings of relief, bridging a gap to the high-leverage relievers in the Rangers bullpen. It was the type of performance that might get overlooked in the regular season, but not so in the World Series. It was especially impressive considering that Gray, a starter over his entire nine-year career, entered October having made only one relief appearance — way back in 2019 for the Rockies.
The right-hander simplified his pitch repertoire on Monday, relying on just his slider and fastball. The velocity on both pitches were up from his season average with his fastball maxing out at 97.8 m.p.h.
Gray has now come out of the bullpen twice in the World Series and has allowed a total of just two hits over 4.2 innings, walking none and striking out seven. The 31-year-old figures to be a factor at some point again this week and Bochy has got to be happy about that.
Shutdown D
The Rangers’ 38 defensive runs saved during the regular season ranked second in the American League and that excellent glovework played a major role in Game 3.
In the third inning, Garcia gunned out Christian Walker — who overran a stop sign from Dbacks third base coach Tony Perezchica — at home with an absolute bullet that kept the game scoreless.
Two batters later, Alek Thomas lined a comebacker to the mound. It hit Scherzer and ricocheted toward Rangers third baseman Josh Jung, who barehanded it before throwing a strike to first base to end the inning. The Diamondbacks had Scherzer on the ropes in that frame, but ended up walking away with nothing to show for it and then went down in the next inning when the Rangers plated their runs.
Arizona again threatened in the eighth, this time against Rangers reliever Aroldis Chapman. However, the left-hander induced a ground ball from Ketel Marte that Seager made a diving stab on, before the shortstop shovelled it to second to start an inning-ending double play.
Gave His Team a Chance
Television cameras caught Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo kneeling in front of starter Brandon Pfaadt for a long chat after the right-hander was removed from the game in the sixth inning. The rookie, who’s logged some big innings for Arizona in these playoffs, was tagged with the loss, but pitched well, all things considered.
The three runs he surrendered all came in the third inning on Marcus Semien’s RBI single and Seager’s two-run bomb. Other than that, Pfaadt kept the game well within reach for his club. He allowed four hits over 5.1 innings, walking two and striking out four.
Pfaadt made his major-league debut in May against the Rangers, but was sent down to the minors later in the season and revamped himself. He returned a different pitcher and helped Arizona get into the World Series by limiting the Phillies to two runs over 9.2 innings across his two starts in the NLCS.
The 25-year-old’s got a bright future ahead, but for now, if the World Series goes long enough, there might still be a role for Pfaadt to play.
