The Texas Rangers may have supplied the fireworks in Game 1 of the World Series but Game 2 was a giant dud.
The Diamondbacks evened the series with a 9-1 victory on Saturday night.
Whether the Rangers partied too hard on Friday night after their dramatic comeback victory or just had an off night, these are the players and coaches most to blame for the loss.
3. Jordan Montgomery
All due respect to Jordan Montgomery, who clearly didn't have his best stuff and soldiered through it, but giving up four runs on nine hits and failing to log a strikeout in six innings of work wasn't going to cut it on Saturday.
It certainly didn't help that Merrill Kelly had a hell of an outing, going seven innings and allowing just three hits and one earned run. The pitching matchup straight up went the way of the Diamondbacks.
Montgomery and Kelly both pitched on Monday. Kelly went five innings against the Phillies while Montgomery pitched 2.1 innings in relief after starting last Friday. So it makes sense that the Rangers pitcher might have a bit less in his arm. Still, this is the World Series and everyone is pushing themselves to the limit.
2. Bruce Bochy
Going into the top of the seventh with the game locked at 2-1, Bruce Bochy opted to sent Jordan Montgomery back out there for another inning. He promptly conceded a double to Alek Thomas and an RBI single to Evan Longoria, who went on to score with Andrew Heaney on the mound.
The decision to stick with Montgomery bit Bochy on the behind and it looked like he essentially conceded the game from there. He declined to use Jose Leclerc, Josh Sborz or Aroldis Chapman, sending out Martin Perez in the top of the eighth. The D-backs blew the game open then, scoring four runs with two outs in the frame.
Saving his relievers with the game still in reach at 4-1 (remember, the Rangers came back from two down in the bottom of the ninth on Friday), absolutely contributed to the loss. With a rest day coming up, it was a questionable decision.
Of course, Bochy can argue he was conceding the battle to help Texas win the war. Truly judging the decision will come down to what the bullpen does in Phoenix.
1. Marcus Semien
A night after Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia were the heroes in Arlington, those two batters went cold. Seager was 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Garcia was 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a walk. They didn't have the spark the Rangers needed. But they're still not the biggest players to blame.
Marcus Semien, come on down.
On a night when the Rangers needed someone other than Seager and Garcia to make their mark, Semien was absent. He struck out on two of his first three at-bats and finally logged a garbage time hit in the bottom of the ninth with Texas already trailing 9-1.
The lineup was poor across the board, logging just four hits. The Rangers were 0-1 with runners in scoring position. That's right, there was only one runner in scoring position all night.
No wonder Bochy shut up shop and conceded the game with his bullpen decisions. The lineup swinging the way they were was never going to generate the offense needed to turn a 4-1 deficit into anything but a loss. They lost the battle to Merrill Kelly and the Diamondbacks bullpen, which hardly needed to stretch to lock in the win.
The issue here is Semien hasn't been contributing enough for much of the postseason. He was .190/.266/.224 going into Saturday's game. He was 1-for-6 with two strikeouts on Friday night. The Rangers have been winning in spite of their second baseman and leadoff man. And they lost on Saturday because of it.
