PHOENIX — Arizona manager Torey Lovullo talks regularly about his squad “winning the inch” to describe the more traditional baseball battle his roster is most equipped to fight.
In World Series Game 2, the Diamondbacks won 312 inches. It represented the difference between 125 feet and 89 feet — between where Rangers third baseman Josh Jung played in the third inning against a Evan Longoria sacrifice bunt and where he played against Longoria in a seventh-inning sacrifice situation.
When Longoria advanced Alek Thomas to second with that third-inning bunt, it was the first time this postseason that the tactic “failed.” The first six times had resulted in a bunt single and five sacrifices in which a runner ultimately scored in the inning.
But failure is in the eye of the strategist.
Longoria had not previously sacrificed since Aug. 3, 2014 against the Angels — “Magic!” by Rude was the No. 1 song in the country. Longoria was not intending to sacrifice nine years, two months and 25 days later. It came to the 38-year-old from his baseball soul — seeing where Jung was positioned and appreciating for whom he was playing.
And though Thomas did not score in the third, he was on base again (this time second) with no out in the seventh. Arizona led just 2-1. Jung moved from well behind to just in front of the third-base bag against a righty with 342 career homers and that one sacrifice.
“I have no doubt he was playing in there because I bunted; there would be no other reason,” Longoria said.
Jung is a good third baseman. He had made a splendid diving play in the fourth inning against Christian Walker. But his proximity to Longoria made a 93.4 mph smashed grounder get through him for an RBI single. That knocked out starter Jordan Montgomery and ushered in seven runs over the final three innings in which the Diamondbacks would have just one extra-base hit. The final was 9-1.
Gabriel Moreno homered for the Diamondbacks’ first run. But they had three sacrifices, a steal, just two strikeouts in 37 plate appearances, a tremendous start by Merrill Kelly and lock-down defense. Thus, this was a 2 hour, 59 minute tutorial on why Arizona is three wins away from its second-ever championship.
The postseason is accentuating Diamondback strengths and camouflaging shortcomings. They do not have a No. 3 or 4 starter, but they have played just 14 times in 28 days thanks to two early sweeps and regular playoff off-days. So they have needed to deploy a bullpen game only once. They will have to again in Game 4 — but so will the Rangers.
Plus, the Diamondbacks are the offensive version of Kelly. The righty can deliver power when needed. But in this age, offenses are braced for velocity. Kelly deceives with variety, sequencing and elite precision. His best pitch is a changeup. And that is the Diamondbacks’ offense — a changeup from the power game to which opponents are familiar.
Before this series, I asked Rangers bench coach Will Venable what was most important for his team and he cited dealing with the different style and speed that permits Arizona to stress defense. Yes, the schedule has helped the Diamondbacks rise at this time of year. But in the playoffs you also need stars to excel and Moreno, Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte have. But also Arizona is winning with its style — one that central baseball and, I suspect, a good deal of fans would love to see come back in favor.
There is no doubt homers are still the weapon of choice — the club that has hit the most homers is 22-4 (.846) so far in this postseason. Texas rallied to win Game 1 via dramatic homers by Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia. But Arizona was tied for eighth fewest homers this season (though it did have four players hit 24 or more). The Diamondbacks had eight more sacrifice bunts than any other team. Only Cincinnati (190) had more steals than Arizona (166). Plus, the Diamondbacks finished second in outs above average on defense.
On offense, it is clear that the running game is now the engine. And teams that out-steal the opponent are 17-6 this postseason. The Diamondbacks have a playoff record 18 straight steals ongoing and 21 in all — only the 2008 Rays (24) had more. At this point when Carroll, Marte, Thomas or Geraldo Perdomo are on first, they have a green light on steroids to go — and Pham and Walker also will steal.
Arizona also has eight of the 14 sacrifice bunts in these playoffs. Rangers Game 3 starter Max Scherzer prides himself on varying his times to disrupt the running game, but while generally successful in his career, opponents were 9-for-10 against him this season. The D’backs will challenge him with opportunity.
“We have to take advantage of the ways we think that we can score runs and beat our opposition,” general manager Mike Hazen said. “We are not going to line up and hit three-run homers against other teams. We need to win the way our roster is constructed, the way Torey wants to play, which is fast, which is defensive and which is creating runs however we can. And I think in this environment so far, at least in the playoffs, it’s allowed us to be a little bit more consistent.”
In the playoffs, Arizona has played to its style, maneuvering three wins from a championship one inch at a time.