PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In a real nightmare for Arizona, the Philadelphia Phillies routed the Diamondbacks 10-0 to win Game 2 of the NLCS on Tuesday.
Another day, another opponent underestimating the power of Phillies fans. Prior to Game Two, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly said he would be surprised if the atmosphere at the Bank would rival what he witnessed in a World Baseball Classic game against Venezuela in Miami.
Phillies shortstop Trea Turner — who played in that USA-Venezuela game — responded by telling reporters: "We’ll see what he says after tonight’s game."
True to form, Phillies fans gave Kelly a taste of their best when he took to the mound for his first pitch. But they really let Kelly have it in the first inning, on his fifth pitch of the game, when Turner drilled a 421-foot home run on a center-cut fastball.
Before the game, another Phillies shortstop (1993-'97) and current member of the Phils' broadcast team, Kevin Stocker, summed up Phillies fans with one word: committed.
"You might see a home run from Castellanos — two home runs — to left field. Everybody over in the right field section are high-fiving and hugging and loving each other. And that is because they're committed to the team and each other," Stocker said.
"And I will tell you when you're on the field as a player or ... you're in the bench, you notice all of that. It may not feel like it sometimes ... because they get so engulfed in what they're doing, but they definitely feel that."
The fans, to put it plainly, are a weapon in the Phillies' arsenal.
"You also feel it as an opposing player," said Stocker, having seen it from the other side, too. "I remember coming into Philly when I was with the [Tampa Bay Devil] Rays and ... you definitely feel that presence, that they're against you — and not in a bad way — but they're certainly against you. So yeah, it's definitely a weapon that the Phillies used all the time."
Kyle Schwarber's third-inning homer extended Philadelphia's lead to 2-0.
Schwarber led off the bottom of the sixth inning — the Phillies' first of two consecutive four-run innings — with a solo home run off Merrill Kelly, pushing the Phillies' up to 3-0.
It was his second of the game and his third in two nights.
J.T. Realmuto's two-run double in the bottom of the sixth sent Turner and Bryson Stott home. And then Brandon Marsh wrapped it up to extend the Phillies' lead to 6-0.
The Diamondbacks sent Kelly back to the dugout, to the sweet music of Philadelphia sports fans, and replaced him with Joe Mantiply.
Then in the seventh, the Phils scored four more. Alec Bohm hit a two-run double in the bottom of the inning to notch the Phillies up to 8-0. Then J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos drove in Philadelphia's ninth and 10th runs.
Up next: The Phils take their 2-0 NLCS lead over the Diamondbacks to Arizona for the next — potentially — three games.