Take the Phillies to seize 3-0 NLCS lead in Arizona against Diamondbacks

This is one angry Philadelphia Phillies club.

The sleeping giant was awoken in Game 2 as the Phils unleashed 10 runs on the Arizona Diamondbacks. This was the 10th time a game resulted in a margin of 10-or-more runs in the history of the NLCS.

They head West to Chase Park in seek of a stranglehold on the Diamondbacks to put them within one game of back-to-back NL Pennants.

The left-handed Ranger Suarez will face rookie right-hander Brandon Pfaadt for Game 3 on Thursday evening.

Staring down a lineup that is hitting .284 and posting 4.6 runs a game in the playoffs is going to be the tallest order Pfaadt has had to deliver in his young professional career.

The 25-year-old logged an up-and-down campaign with a 5.72 ERA and paid Triple-A Reno a visit again after getting slammed in his first five MLB starts.

The positives are he limited hard contact respectably. Pfaadt finished the regular season at .329 xOBA. He was also one of baseball’s most unlucky pitchers with an xERA 1.11 runs lower than his ERA.

Torey Luvullo’s trust in Pfaadt limited. He will be used on a short leash as he was in his previous two starts in the playoffs. Pfaadt was pulled in the third inning against Milwaukee after surrendering three earned runs and in the fifth against Los Angeles with a 4-0 lead.

The Phillies swing from the get-go. They have scored at least one run in the first frame of both games in this series.

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Let’s call a spade of spade: This Arizona rotation — while over-performing in the playoffs thus far — is not on the same wavelength as Philadelphia’s.

Phillies pitching has strung together a postseason-leading 0.83 WHIP. The Diamondbacks now lead the field in home runs allowed at 26 after turbulent Games 1 and 2.

The Diamondbacks have savored their best relief pitching through the first two games; Kevin Ginkel, Paul Sewald and Ryan Thompson have yet to make appearances in this series. So we can certainly expect these two coming games to lean heavily on the bullpen since the backend of the D-backs rotation has been shady through most of the season.

Ranger Suarez was a sound No. 3 pitcher through the two starts he had against Atlanta. He pitched for a collective 8 2/3 innings and yielded the regular season’s best offense one earned run.

In 12 innings against Arizona this season, Suarez maintained a 3.75 ERA and averaged six strikeouts.

Citizen Bank noise or not, the Phillies are the deeper team at the plate and it’s just too difficult to get these guys out right now — especially for an inexperienced pitcher.

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