Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo made a bold and somewhat perplexing move in Thursday's Game 3 of the NLCS, pulling starter Brandon Pfaadt in the sixth inning with no runners on base after the righty tossed 5.2 shutout innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Lovullo pulled Pfaadt with two outs in the sixth, as Diamondbacks fans showered down boos, opting for left-hander Andrew Saalfrank to face Phillies power-hitting lefty Kyle Schwarber.
Pfaddt had been cruising during his outing, giving up two hits and striking out a career-high nine batters with just 70 pitches thrown.
Saalfrank walked Schwarber but would get Trea Truner to ground out into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Though trouble struck in the seventh when Saalfrank walked Bryce Harper, Lovullo brought in Ryan Thompson, who would give up an infield single, induce a double play and throw a wild pitch with Harper on third base to give up the game's first run.
The Diamondbacks got the run back in the bottom half of the seventh courtesy of a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. RBI double.
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider made waves earlier in the post-season with a similar move in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card series against the Minnesota Twins, pulling starter Jose Berrios after 4.2 shutout innings, seemingly due to matchup purposes.
The Diamondbacks would go on to win the game after Ketel Marte's walk-off single in the ninth, bringing the best-of-seven series to 2-1 in favour of the Phillies.
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