The spotlight was on Brandon Pfaadt during the game against the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Conference Series until the manager took him out in the sixth inning.
Pfaadt made his second straight postseason start, and he was delivering what was expected from him. One can even say that he overdid himself.
The 25-year-old became the first pitcher in MLB #postseason history to record back-to-back starts and allowed zero runs and zero walks. He also became the youngest starting pitcher in #Dbacks history to have 9+ strikeouts in a playoff start. He also owns the 7th-most strikeouts by a rookie in the postseason.
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He probably could have done more, but manager Torey Lovullo decided to take him out of the game, to the disappointment of fans, who even booed the coaching staff for their decision.
The Diamondbacks won the game to take a 2-1 lead.
Still, fans made their feelings known on social media as they found Pfaadt not being in the game absurd.
Torey Lovullo is pulling Brandon Pfaadt, who has thrown 5 2/3 brilliant shutout innings for the Diamondbacks, and bringing in left-hander reliever Andrew Saalfrank.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 19, 2023
The fans are booing.
Pfaadt has thrown 69 pitches. Do what you shall with that, Twitter.
Crowd boos the decision to pull Brandon Pfaadt before giving him a standing ovation. pic.twitter.com/5G9mnKraWh
— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 19, 2023
Lovullo is apologetic after
Lovullo knows he made the wrong decision in a presser post-game.
Torey Lovullo says he was asking his bench coaches, “am I an idiot,” if he takes out Brandon Pfaadt with 9 strikeouts in 5.2 innings.
— Nick King (@NickKingSports) October 20, 2023
Torey Lovullo said “I’d boo myself too” re: taking Brandon Pfaadt out when he did.
That was an awesome post-game presser. He’s really won me over this postseason.— Zona (@AZSportsZone) October 20, 2023
He also explained that taking out Pfaadt was not made at his whim.
"I want everybody to know that is trying to think along with me that I have a strategy for everything that's going on. Everything that's done (has) been well-talked about."
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