'We earned the right': Underdog Diamondbacks force winner-take-all NLCS Game 7 vs. Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — The music was blaring and the Arizona Diamondbacks were singing, but the most beautiful sound of all was outside their clubhouse walls at Citizens Bank Park.

Silence.

“Well, except for the boos," laughed D-backs slugger Tommy Pham, who homered in the second inning. “They booed me."

It was an evening in which the Diamondbacks regained their mojo, played the style of baseball that got them into the postseason in the first place and are now on the brink of shocking the baseball world.

The Diamondbacks, with a 5-1 victory over the powerful Philadelphia Phillies, have forced an unimaginable Game 7 of the National League Championship Series Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park.

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The winner will play the Texas Rangers in the World Series beginning Friday night.

The loser will have four months off.

“Anything can happen in Game 7," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “It's wide open. It's a crap shoot."

Believe it or not, this will be the first Game 7 in the 140-year history of the Phillies.

For the Diamondbacks, it will be their first Game 7 since that glorious 2001 evening when they won their only World Series, beating the mighty New York Yankees on Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off single off Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera.

Now, they’ve got a chance to carve out their own history.

This is a team that didn’t clinch a playoff berth until the next-to-last day of the season.

They won 84 games.

They were outscored during the regular season.

They were the underdog in the wild-card round against the Milwaukee Brewers, and swept them.

They were the underdog in NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and swept them.

They were the underdog in this NLCS, and after losing by a combined score of 15-3 in the first two games of the series, were written off.

Well, the Diamondbacks are the ones who will be writing their own final chapter.

“It speaks a lot about the guys in that locker room, the coaches," Pham said, “because with all honesty, man, the media could really portray a false picture about a team. You are seeing the series, the resiliency of the D-backs, how we play the game, how we manage to win. It's starting to grow amongst the baseball fans, media, and everyone else in the game.

“It's just sometimes when you count a team out from the get-go, and when that team easily falls behind 0-2, you get that perception.

“But we always felt like if we got some good pitching, played great defense, and we played our game, that we could win this."

The Diamondbacks really hadn't played their style of ball in this series until Monday.

It was a team that stole 166 bases during the season and ran wild in the first two rounds, but suddenly stopped stealing. They attempted and stole only one base the entire series before Game 6. They left the night stealing four bases, dropping down two bunts, playing crisp defense and were back to creating chaos.

“It started by getting out in front and getting that lead, that was the big thing," D-backs GM Mike Hazen told USA TODAY Sports, sitting in Lovullo’s office with his assistants. “I think when you’re down by a run or two, you don’t want to make outs on the bases. As much as you want to push the envelope, I think making outs someitems can cost you.

“I think once we were up by a couple of runs, we started running pretty aggterssviely. We were looking for every opportunity to run. They’ve done a good job neutralizing us. We don’t just want to run into outs.

“But we were more aggressive tonight."

The Diamondbacks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, and never looked back, limiting the Phillies’ powerful offense to just six hits – only one for extra bases – without a single home run.

Really, the only drama was when Lovullo pulled Merrill Kelly after his dominant five inning performance_three hits, one run and eight strikeouts – and Kelly exploded in the dugout. He had retired eight consecutive batters, threw 90 pitches, and was ready to come out for at least one more inning.

“He was fighting in the dugout with Torey," Pham said. “I was like 'Let them! I’m not the manager. I’ve never seen a player drop a manager, before.’’

Kelly, realizing he wasn’t going to win the argument, calmed down and watched the D-backs bullpen continue to shut down the Phillies, allowing just three baserunners the final four innings.

“I was upset right there,’’ Kelly said, “I was kind of just taken off guard by it. I just went through their top three, punched out two of them, I'm thinking I'm for sure going back out for the sixth.

“When I came in, and saw his hand out for the handshake that I was done, it kind of just took me by shock more than anything."

Really, the ones more shocked during the evening were the 45,473 fans at Citizens Bank Park. They had never seen their team lose a home game this postseason, winning 11 in a row against National League opponents over the past two seasons. They had never seen their team not pummel the opposition, outscoring their opponents, 39-8, at home while smashing 17 home runs.

The crowd, who the Phillies constantly feed off, never had the opportunity to intimidate the D-backs. Oh, they tried showing scenes from “Rocky" and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce was shown on the scoreboard chugging a beer. Nothing worked.

“I think being on the road, and taking the crowd out," Hazen said, “is important. I think we did that at Dodger Stadium, and I think it’s an important factor to play on the road.

“I don’t know that the players necessarily hear it all of the time, but this place is an electric place to play. This is what you play all year for, to be in these moments, with crowds like this, crowds like we had back in Phoenix.

“Game 7, it’s good for the game.’’

The Phillies, quickly dressing in the quiet of their own clubhouse, say they are embracing a Game 7. Stars like Bryce Harper have never experienced it. And it’s mind-boggling that it has never happened in any postseason in Phillies’ history.

“Only one game matters now," Harper said.

Still, while the Phillies aren’t afraid of the moment and say they’re looking forward to it, they never imagined they would need a seventh game to win the pennant.

They were up 2 games to 0 after routing the D-backs, 10-0, in Game 2. The biggest question was whether the Phillies would sweep the D-backs or win it in five games. They talked about crashing the pool at Chase Field in their pennant celebration.

Well, it never happened in Phoenix.

It didn’t happen Monday night, with the D-backs winning the first elimination game in franchise history.

And who knows if it will happen Tuesday.

It will be a rematch of Game 3 between rookie starter Brandon Pfaadt and Phillies starter Ranger Suarez. The two were exceptional with Pfaadt pitching 5 ⅔ shutout innings and Suarez 5 ⅓ shutout innings. The D-backs won the game, 2-1, on Ketel Marte’s walk-off single.

Who knows just what to expect this time around, but as the D-backs showed Monday night, booing staff workers when the blaring clubhouse music was softened, they’re ready to party like it’s 2001 all over again.

“I think we enjoyed it," Lovullo said. “I think there were a lot of F-yeahs as we were shaking hands, and I think everybody was excited. We deserve this moment. We're going to play Game 7, and for me Game 7, it's like all hands-on-deck, anything is possible.

“We earned the right to play in that game."