Paul Sewald, Diamondbacks left to lament Corey Seager’s ninth-inning homer in Game 1

ARLINGTON, Texas — Paul Sewald saw this coming in spring training. Not this, exactly, not blowing a save in the World Series opener for the Arizona Diamondbacks. But he figured the Texas Rangers, who took a 6-5 thriller in 11 innings on Friday, would play on this stage.

“I thought that they’ve been the best team in the American League since we set out in March — and now they’re representing the American League,” Sewald said on Thursday, before the Diamondbacks’ workout at Globe Life Field. “So I’m not surprised that they’re here. It’s a credit to a relentless lineup that really comes at you all nine innings.”

The Diamondbacks kept that lineup subdued for eight innings on Friday, wiggling out of jams and handing Sewald a two-run lead in the ninth. The game was as good as over: Since his trade from Seattle on July 31, Sewald had converted 19 of 21 save chances, including the pennant clincher in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

He’d been flawless through the National League playoffs, and knew he would have to remain so. Sewald said as much on Thursday in citing Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, the $500 million middle-infield duo who have transformed the Rangers from farce to force in two seasons.

“Those two acquisitions last year have been incredible, and they’re superstars,” Sewald said. “Marcus is ready to swing at the very first pitch of the game … and we’re going to have to execute from the very first pitch tomorrow or we’re not going to win this series.”

Sewald did not execute. After Semien swung and missed at a high fastball for the first out in the bottom of the ninth, Sewald started Seager with the same pitch — a bit harder, at 93.6 mph, but not as far inside. It landed deep in the right field seats for a two-run, game-tying homer.

The Diamondbacks got it backwards against Seager early and late on Friday night. They pitched carefully to him in the first and third innings, when Seager walked twice to start run-scoring rallies. Then, with the game on the line, Sewald challenged him and paid for it.

In the moments after the loss, Sewald wasn’t especially curious about what happened on the fateful fastball.

“I haven’t taken a look at it,” he said. “There’s no use in taking a look at it right now. Guys told me that it was not a bad pitch. I threw a good pitch and he just hit it. It’s the walk that will frustrate me more than anything.”

More on the leadoff walk to Leody Taveras in a moment. After the Semien strikeout, Sewald was asked, did he think Seager was hunting for a fastball of his own?

“Yeah,” Sewald conceded, “you could definitely see that he was going up there looking to get on top of a high fastball.”

Still, Sewald noted, this was Seager’s first career hit off him. In eight prior matchups, Seager had been 0-for-5 with three walks against Sewald, who said he’d effectively mixed his slider and high-spin fastball.

“I’ve varied it,” Sewald said. “I only have two pitches. Sometimes when he guesses correctly, he’s a great hitter and he got it. I’ll have to get him maybe the same way, maybe a different way. It’s just one of those things where he got me tonight and I’ll have to try and figure out how to get him tomorrow night.”

Historically — as you’d expect — it’s been hard for teams to overcome this kind of loss. The 1988 Oakland A’s and two Mets teams (in 2000 and 2015) blew ninth-inning leads on the road in Game 1, and all went on to lose the World Series in five.

Two of those leads disappeared with home runs, by the Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson off Dennis Eckersley in 1988 and the Royals’ Alex Gordon off Jeurys Familia in 2015. In 2000, the tying run scored on a sacrifice fly off Armando Benitez, who sparked the Yankees’ rally with a walk.

On Friday, the Rangers’ ninth inning borrowed from both types of comebacks: Taveras drew a leadoff walk before Seager’s one-out blast. Taveras, the No. 9 hitter, had struck out twice and popped out and was batting .227 in the postseason. Yet after a called strike, Sewald missed with four fastballs, three well outside to the left-handed-hitting Taveras.

“I don’t really understand why I was rushing there,” Sewald said. “I’ve just got to try and attack him. That’s where I’ll be most frustrated. Taveras is a great hitter, but you’ve got to try and get him before those big guys come up.”

In the NL Championship Series, the Diamondbacks fooled the Phillies by baiting their hitters into flailing at pitches off the plate. That’s a much tougher task against the more patient Rangers, who drew 10 walks (one intentional) in Game 1 and pounced on mistakes.

“You have to be aggressive with these guys in the zone, because they don’t chase that often,” said Arizona lefty Kyle Nelson, who survived two walks and a single to work a scoreless 10th inning. “It’s a fine line because you don’t want to fall behind in counts; I did that probably a little bit too much tonight. But they are very aggressive hitters and talented hitters, so you don’t want to just groove one early. You kind of pick your spots when to be aggressive.”

Maybe Sewald should have walked Seager rather than risk a game-tying homer to a hitter he called one of the top 10 players in the sport. Torey Lovullo, the Diamondbacks’ manager, said he and the front office were dissecting that very point in his office moments after the game.

“If I’m sitting there as a Monday morning quarterback, I’m thinking about it now,” Lovullo said. “But I was thinking with a very clear head: make pitches, bring our closer into the game, and we’ll get a couple of outs here and march off the field. That was my mindset.”

Arizona has blown ninth-inning leads in the World Series before — who could forget the two-out homers off Byung-Hyun Kim in Game 4 (by Tino Martinez) and 5 (by Scott Brosius) at Yankee Stadium in 2001? The Diamondbacks went on to win that Series but did not use Kim the rest of the way.

This time, of course, Randy Johnson can’t rescue them on short rest in the ninth. For the Diamondbacks to win this Series, they’ll need to depend on Sewald — and they insist they’re looking forward to it.

“You have to be able to draw from the positives, find what you did well, find the successes you had in the game and roll that into the next day,” said Evan Longoria, the veteran third baseman. “I feel like we played a pretty solid baseball game, and if we do that and give Paul an opportunity four more times in this series, I love our chances.”

(Top photo of Paul Sewald: Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)