Diamondbacks down Phillies as they look to rattle Rangers

PHILADELPHIA — Corbin Carroll ducked late into the Arizona Diamondbacks' clubhouse with his uniform pants stained in dirt — two stolen bases will get a player dirty — but was otherwise clean when he was spotted by the rest of his bubbly-bathed teammates.

"Have yourself a Game 7!" jubilant teammates shouted as they chased down the breakout postseason star. "Why are you dry?"

Carroll had little room to escape inside a cramped visitors' locker room — not that he wanted to — and was soon doused with beer before a victory cigar followed.

World Series trips don't come often for this franchise in the desert. So when it was time to celebrate, the Diamondbacks did it with the same vigor they used to knock off last year's NL champs.

Carroll went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and Arizona advanced to the World Series for the first time in 22 years on Tuesday night by stunning the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series.

"We did it! That's all I can say," said Carroll, the favorite for NL Rookie of the Year. "Just believe in each other, believe in our guys. We know what we have in that clubhouse, and it's special. We've known it all year."

Arizona will play the Texas Rangers in an all-wild card World Series no one saw coming, with Game 1 set for Friday night at Globe Life Field.

In their only other trip to the Fall Classic, the Diamondbacks won a seven-game thriller against the New York Yankees in 2001.

The young Diamondbacks, who at 84-78 squeezed into the playoffs as the final NL wild card, completed their comeback from an 0-2 hole in the NLCS. They won Games 6 and 7 in Philadelphia, where the defending National League champions had been 12-2 over the past two postseasons — including 11-0 in NL playoff games.

"I've said it a million times, and I'll say it again: A connected team is a very dangerous team," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "No matter what happened in those times of crisis, these guys stuck together."

Rookie starter Brandon Pfaadt struck out seven, and five relievers combined on five scoreless innings of one-hit ball for the surprising NL pennant winners.

"They played great baseball," Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said. "There's no way around it. Everyone's got a sick feeling in their stomach. It's not the way we pictured this thing ending."

Bryce Harper and the rest of the Phillies are forced to ponder this offseason how they let a second straight World Series trip slip away. Philadelphia returned home one win from another pennant but couldn't close it out, falling behind early in Game 6 and then losing the first Game 7 in the 141-year history of the franchise.

"It's very disappointing. It really is," manager Rob Thomson said. "I told the club if you asked me two days ago, two weeks ago, two months ago if we would be going home tonight, I would have said no. So that's how much belief I have in this club."

Kevin Ginkel, the fourth Arizona reliever, showed his mettle with a gutsy performance in the seventh. After left-hander Andrew Saalfrank walked consecutive batters with one out, Ginkel entered and retired Trea Turner and Harper on flyouts to center field.

Ginkel then struck out all three hitters in the eighth, and Paul Sewald pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save this postseason.

With that, Arizona's bullpen slammed the door on Philadelphia's powerful lineup — and shushed Phillies fans who were left weeping on their own.

"That's a good club, and they really played well. You come into this building and beat us twice in this type of atmosphere, you're doing some things right," Thomson said. "They pitched well. They really did."

Again, the Diamondbacks struck first when Christian Walker grounded into a fielder's choice against Phillies starter Ranger Suarez in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. It may have seemed like a rather innocuous play, but Arizona was already 5-0 this postseason when scoring first. And that run — similar to a three-run second for the Diamondbacks in Game 6 — deflated a boisterous crowd that came prepped for a clinch.

Agencies via Xinhua