I never thought I would live to see this day.
No, I’m not talking about the Phillies actually winning a game, you idiots. No, I’m talking about How they won the game. With small ball? Bring it over, get it in? My goodness…
That’s a good thing, too, because it would have wasted a good performance from Aaron Nola and the rest of the pitching staff, where for a while it looked like that was going to happen. Instead, the lead is back to seven games, and there’s hope that the trip to Atlanta tomorrow won’t be spoiled.
The first few innings were pretty boring. Nola and his opponent Max Fried were pretty good, getting through the first two innings with some ease. In the third inning, the Braves threatened to load the bases with two outs thanks to a walk, a single and a walk, but Nola pulled his power from Sean Murphy to end the threat and the frame. The Phillies looked like they might be able to mount an offense of their own in the fourth inning with a leadoff hit by Kyle Schwarber, but a nifty play by Gio Ursehla that induced a double play nullified that comeback.
What happens when a team has great defense on the field? They score when they hit. That’s what happened when Jarred Kelenic hit a single and Orlando Arcia hit a home run to make it 2-0.
An interesting subplot to everything that happens between Arcia and the Phillies is the infamous clubhouse celebration after NLCS Game 2, where Arcia riled up the bear named Bryce Harper and Harper responded by hitting two home runs in Game 3 and stabbing Arcia every time he rounded the bases. Tonight – a game in mid-August on a Wednesday, mind you – was the moment when Arcia got the chance to take the revenge he had clearly vowed to do last year.
This has to be the most pathetic thing that has happened in a long time.
Anyway, Nola calmed down after that and actually played solidly for the rest of the inning and the end of the fifth. In the sixth inning, the Phillies began their ascendancy.
Edmundo opened the inning with a broken-bat single, followed by a laser double by Johan Rojas that moved Sosa to third base. Schwarber hit a hard ground ball up the middle to score Sosa and give the Phillies their first run. Trea Turner followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2-2.
The Braves got a little cocky in the sixth inning when singles by Arcia and Ramon Laureano put two men on base with one out, but instead of letting Nola get through, Thomson went to the bullpen and brought in Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman, in turn, induced a double play that put out the Phillies’ conflagration.
In the eighth, with the game still tied, Weston Wilson hit a double to first and was moved to third base when pinch hitter Bryson Stott flew out to deep center field. Brandon Marsh was also in the pinch hitter role and he too was successful, flying out almost to the warning track to score Wilson and give the Phillies the lead.
Matt Strahm dominated his portion of the eighth inning, paving the way for Carlos Estevez in the ninth inning.
That was fun.
A leadoff walk made things exciting, but Estevez got Jorge Soler to pop out. A single by Gio Urshela made things more interesting, but a jam shot ground ball by Michael Harris was the second out even though both runners were in scoring position. Whit Merrifield was on and that scared us all, but then Merrifield reminded us of his early 2024 self and hit a ground ball to the first baseman to end the game.
Another battle between these two teams fortunately ended with the Phillies back up to a seven-game lead in the division, and they’ll finish things off in front of a national audience tomorrow night.
