Seranthony Domínguez backs up Phillies’ faith in him by striking out Cardinals stars in key spot
Domínguez, in his first full season back from elbow surgery, struck out Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado with the game on the line.
ST. LOUIS — Just before Seranthony Domínguez made the pitch of his life Saturday night, J.T. Realmuto called timeout, walked to the mound, and conveyed a message.
“You’re the guy here,” the Phillies star catcher said. “You’re the guy we want — nobody else — in this situation.”
Maybe that’s what Domínguez needed to hear. Maybe not. But the hard-throwing reliever, who struggled with his control and confidence down the stretch and ceded some high-leverage innings to others in the Phillies’ bullpen, reared back and fired a dirt-diving 99 mph sinker. St. Louis Cardinals slugger Paul Goldschmidt, the presumptive National League MVP, waved at it — and Realmuto blocked it — for the second out of the eighth inning.
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Four pitches later, Domínguez whiffed Nolan Arenado, the Cardinals’ other 30-homer force, to strand the tying runs in an eventual 2-0 victory that completed a two-game sweep in the National League wild-card series and sent the Phillies to the divisional round beginning Tuesday night in Atlanta against the defending World Series champion Braves.
There were several heroes in the Phillies’ first victorious postseason series since 2010.
Jean Segura punched a go-ahead single in a six-run ninth inning in Game 1.
Bryce Harper homered on the first pitch of the second inning in Game 2.
Alec Bohm made a leaping, lunging catch to out-Arenado the Cardinals’ Gold Glove third baseman.
The Phillies co-aces combined to hold the Cardinals to six hits in 13 innings and make good on the team’s bet that it would be “Wheeler, Nola, and ov-ah.”
But the Phillies don’t win — at least not Game 2 — without Domínguez striking out the Cardinals’ most dangerous hitters and hushing a sold-out crowd of 48,515 at Busch Stadium.
“I’ve been dreaming all my life to be in the postseason, the playoffs,” Domínguez said from a sudsy clubhouse amid the euphoria of a second champagne-and-beer celebration in six days. “My biggest wish right now is to get to the World Series and get people out, do my job, make the Phillies fans be happy, and win the whole thing.”
OK, so maybe Domínguez is getting a little ahead of himself. The Phillies scored only eight runs in the two games against the Cardinals. They will need to generate more offense to vanquish the Braves.
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But they will head to Atlanta with more peace of mind if they’re able to count on Domínguez again to get the biggest late-game outs.
It was that way for most of the season. But Domínguez went on the injured list in the middle of August with right elbow tendinitis, missed three weeks, and wasn’t nearly as sharp upon his return. His command, typically precise, came and went. He believed it stemmed from a flaw in his mechanics. In his last eight appearances, he gave up nine earned runs on 10 hits and eight walks in seven innings.
Interim manager Rob Thomson called down for Domínguez to get loose in Game 1 but never used him. When the call came in Game 2, Domínguez knew the assignment would begin with Albert Pujols, the retiring 703-homer Cardinals icon. Pujols slashed a single to left field to set up Goldschmidt and Arenado, who combined to go 1-for-15 with six strikeouts in the series.
“I know the last two, three outings wasn’t really good,” Domínguez said. “I really appreciate Thomson giving me the confidence to go to the mound.”
Said third baseman Alec Bohm: “That’s good on good, right? That’s our guy. Those are their guys. Seranthony is nasty. Everybody knows it. And to get through those two guys, that’s the game right there. Those are two of the best hitters in baseball. That’s why he’s our guy.”
Goldschmidt worked the count full, and Domínguez knew what he wanted to do: sinker away. But Segura called for a mound meeting because, from second base, he suspected Domínguez may be tipping his pitches. Before the summit broke up, Realmuto gave Domínguez the brief pep talk.
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“I can’t wait to go rewatch the at-bat with Goldschmidt,” Rhys Hoskins said. “Because here we are, this is going to be the MVP in the National League most likely, it’s a big spot in the game again, and he was just nasty the whole time. You could see Goldy, he was in between, he didn’t know [what pitch to expect]. That’s just how nasty Ser is.”
The wild-card clincher followed the same script as Monday night when the Phillies locked up a playoff spot. Aaron Nola started it, and converted starter Zach Eflin closed it.
But this time, it was Domínguez, in his first full season back from Tommy John elbow surgery, who helped bridge the two.
“It’s been a long journey for him just to be back,” Hoskins said. “It’s awesome. Obviously the stuff is always good. It showed up tonight.”
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