« I was just screaming as loud as I could. I think everyone was in the whole stadium. »
The crack of the bat was a stunner, jolting the sellout crowd at Chase Field into a frenzy.
Light-hitting Alek Thomas, who had lost his spot in the starting lineup because of consistently weak at-bats, had just provided the most important swing of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ storybook season.
“I was just screaming as loud as I could,” D-backs outfielder Pavin Smith said. “I think everyone was in the whole stadium.”
Thomas hit a tying, two-run homer in a three-run eighth inning, Gabriel Moreno followed with a go-ahead single and the D-backs stunned the Philadelphia Phillies with a 6-5 victory on Friday night that tied the NL Championship Series at two games apiece.
Arizona trailed 5-2 before Orion Kerkering’s bases-loaded walk to Christian Walker with two outs in the seventh.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. doubled leading off the eighth against Craig Kimbrel, who also gave up Ketel Marte’s game-ending single in Game 3. Thomas, pinch hitting for Emmanuel Rivera with one out, sent a full-count fastball splashing into the right-center field swimming pool to tie the score 5-5 as 47,806 fans roared.
“That play is definitely something you see in your dreams,” the 23-year-old Thomas said. “So for it to come in real life, for it to happen to me, it’s awesome. Just so grateful to have that moment.”
Marte singled with two outs, Corbin Carroll was hit by a pitch and José Alvarado relieved. Moreno laced a single to left-center to drive in the go-ahead run.
Kyle Schwarber, whose fourth-inning homer had sparked Philadelphia’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit, doubled with two outs in the ninth off Paul Sewald, Arizona’s eighth pitcher.
