LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville native is becoming something of a folk hero in the 2023 Major League Baseball postseason, and now he'll get to pitch in the World Series.
Brandon Pfaadt, 25, became just the 13th rookie pitcher in league history to start a Game 7 Tuesday night, and he didn't disappoint. The former Bellarmine Knight allowed two earned runs on four hits in four innings, and struck out seven Phillies.
The Arizona bullpen held Philadelphia scoreless the rest of the way to take Game 7 and advance to the World Series.
Pfaadt has come up huge for the Diamondbacks in October and lowered his postseason ERA to 2.70. He also started Game 3 of the series, throwing 5.2 shutout innings and allowing just two hits. He struck out nine in that outing.
Pfaadt's 22 postseason strikeouts rank third in franchise history, trailing only Curt Schilling (63) and hall of famer Randy Johnson (62).
The right-hander made his MLB debut in May against the Texas Rangers. He had an up-and-down rookie year, posting a record of 3-9 in the regular season with 5.72 ERA.
At Bellarmine, Pfaadt was 8-6 with a 4.09 ERA and mostly worked as a relief pitcher. In his final season in 2020, he was 3-1 with a minuscule 1.38 ERA before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the remainder of the year.
The Diamondbacks selected Pfaadt with the 149th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB draft. He spent three seasons in Arizona's minor league system before getting called up the Big Leagues.
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