What pressure? Marte delivers as D-backs prevail
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
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. Let him keep going.”
Arizona manager Torey Lovullo was left explaining his decision during his postgame news conference; seven of the first eight questions asked touched on the move.
“It’s 18 hitters plus or minus four, depending on the score, depending on the situation,” Lovullo said. “We had a back-end bullpen that hadn’t thrown and they were going to pitch in this game no matter what. I wanted to engage the entire team, and there’s a portion of the bullpen that had several days off. I wanted to get them sharpened up as well.
“Why run him through that portion of the lineup?”
Asked about being taken out, Pfaadt added: “Obviously I’m a competitor. I want to keep going. Everybody does, but at the end of the day you just have to trust his decision and move forward, go to the bullpen, let them do their jobs.”
Reliever Andrew Saalfrank came on and walked Schwarber before Trea Turner grounded into a fielder’s choice. Saalfrank wasn’t as lucky in the seventh inning, allowing a leadoff walk to Bryce Harper before being replaced by Ryan Thompson, whose wild pitch allowed Harper to score the game’s first run.
But Arizona tied it in the bottom of the seventh inning when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. doubled home pinch-runner Alek Thomas.
The game stayed tied until Marte’s heroics.
“There were some missed opportunities that could have affected us, but we stayed in it, focused on the next pitch and doing our job and ended up on top,” outfielder Corbin Carroll said. “It says a lot about the resilience of the team.”
Kimbrel was asked where he wanted that final pitch after giving up two walks and a hit before facing Marte.
“Not on his bat,” he said. “Just trying to get another strike, and he put enough good wood on it to get a hit. … I got ahead. I feel like I made some pitches to get us out of it. Some days you get ’em, some days you don’t. Today just wasn’t my day.”
The winning hit let Lovullo off the hook and gave meaning to Pfaadt’s great outing. It also means the series will last through the weekend with the Diamondbacks needing to win one of the next two to send the series back to Philadelphia, where the Phillies are 6-0 this postseason.
“It’s exactly what we were looking for in Game 1 back at home here,” first baseman Christian Walker said. “Our dugout knew something was going to happen there with Marte, and he didn’t let us down.”
Added Marte: “I’m seeing the ball good. I’ve been working hard the whole year. That’s the player I am. I’m not surprised.”
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Jake Trotter, ESPN Senior Writer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan star tight end Colston Loveland has been ruled out of Saturday’s game against No. 11 USC with an undisclosed injury.
Loveland suffered an apparent shoulder injury in last weekend’s win over Arkansas State. Michigan coach Sherrone Moore hasn’t specified the nature of the injury.
A preseason All-American, Loveland leads the Wolverines with 19 catches for 187 yards; no other Michigan pass catcher has more than nine receptions.
The No. 18 Wolverines also changed starting quarterbacks this week, moving from Davis Warren to Alex Orji. Warren had thrown six interceptions in three games, including three last weekend. He threw two picks in a 31-12 loss to Texas on Sept. 7.
Orji has only seven career passing attempts but has rushed for 58 yards in a relief role this season.
Moore said this week that he wants to see Orji “take the reins” of the Michigan offense with his opportunity.
“Excited for him,” Moore said. “I know he’s chomping at the bit.”
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
The Washington Nationals demoted All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams to the minor leagues after he stayed out all night at a Chicago-area casino, leaving only hours before a Friday day game against the Chicago Cubs, sources told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
The 23-year-old Abrams led off for the Nationals and went 0 for 3 with a walk and strikeout in Friday’s game, which started at 1 p.m. CT. He was informed of the demotion Friday night, sources said. He will be sent to West Palm Beach, home of the Nationals’ minor league complex.
Because Abrams has been with Washington for the entirety of the season, the demotion will not affect his service time. Players earn a full year of service with 172 days on the major league roster, and Abrams already has exceeded that threshold.
Abrams could, however, file a grievance through the Major League Baseball Players Association to fight for lost pay if he believes the demotion unjust. He would lose around $30,000 of his $752,000 salary for missing the season’s final week. Abrams will be arbitration-eligible this winter, entering the system for the first of four times as a Super 2.
Acquired as one of the centerpieces of the Juan Soto trade two years ago, Abrams parlayed a breakout first-half into an All-Star selection, hitting .268/.343/.489 with 15 home runs and 15 stolen bases over the Nationals’ first 89 games. He struggled significantly in the second half, slashing .203/.260/.326, and Abrams’ defense has been a weakness throughout the season.
Still, the Nationals did not intend to send him to the minor leagues until they learned of his time spent at the casino, which was first reported Friday by CHGO.
“I just want it to be known it wasn’t performance-based,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez told reporters Saturday. “It’s an internal issue. I’m not going to give specifics.”
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Utah quarterback Cam Rising is a game-time decision with an injury to his throwing hand, sources told ESPN, with the expectation that he will attempt to start.
No. 12 Utah plays at No. 14 Oklahoma State on Saturday, one of the biggest games of the season in the Big 12.
Rising has been limited in practice this week with the injury, and he is not expected to be 100% if he does play. He will be monitored closely to see how his injured fingers impact how he throws. The fingers play a huge role in both spin and velocity, which will impact his effectiveness in the passing game.
He injured his hand Sept. 7 against Baylor in the second quarter when he threw a ball away and was pushed out of bounds and landed awkwardly on the water coolers on the Bears sideline.
Rising warmed up with a glove on his hand before last week’s game against Utah State but did not play, and he was spotted with two fingers wrapped on the sideline against Baylor. It’s uncertain if he will use the glove on Saturday.
Utah’s offense plays a majority of its snaps under center and uses clapping as a mechanism in its snapping operation, which would both stress the fingers.
Backup quarterback Isaac Wilson is a true freshman who made his first career start against Utah State, going 20-of-33 passing for 239 yards and three touchdowns. He took first-team reps in practice this week when Rising wasn’t out there.
Wilson is the brother of former BYU quarterback Zach Wilson, who now plays in the NFL for the Denver Broncos.
Rising is a seventh-year senior who had emerged as one of the Pac-12’s top quarterbacks in 2021 and 2022. He has been snakebit by injuries in recent seasons, as an injury in the Rose Bowl following the 2022 season ultimately led to him missing the entire 2023 season.
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