Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Bryce Harper, and J.T. Realmuto ALL come through on Tuesday to lead the Phillies to a 6-4 win over the Giants.
It wasn't an explosion, it wasn't a perfect game, but all the Phillies have needed over the past week has been a timely knock or two and they finally came in a 6-4 win over the Giants.
The Phils entered the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday night trailing by a run and had made an out in 41 of their last 44 at-bats with a runner in scoring position, hitting .068 since Thursday. They'd lost five of seven. They had two hitters at the bottom of the order, Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh, slumping so badly that Bohm was dropped four spots in the lineup last week and Marsh was benched in Monday's series opener.
Despite going a combined 1-for-7 on Tuesday night, both Bohm and Marsh came through, accounting for a pair of RBI in a two-run win. Marsh put a sweet swing on a low-and-in slider from Justin Verlander for a sacrifice fly in the second inning, and Bohm delivered a two-out RBI single to give the Phillies a lead in the seventh.
Twice earlier in the night, Bohm came up with a man in scoring position and was unable to drive him in, grounding out to second with a man on second and grounding into an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners in the fourth. This has been a grueling stretch for both Bohm and Marsh and the Phillies hope the duo has already reached rock bottom. There's really only one direction either can go given how rough the first three weeks have been.
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Bryce Harper made a close game more comfortable with a towering two-run homer on a 3-0 count in the seventh, his third of the year. This was a difficult night to drive a ball. The wind was swirling upwards of 20 mph at first pitch, and by the end of the first inning, Trea Turner had flung his bat into the netting beyond third base, rain clouds had rendered Center City invisible and roughly 1,000 fan scorecards had made their way onto the field.
The elements subsided as the game went on but still made a difference. In the bottom of the seventh, J.T. Realmuto popped a ball up to medium left field but Heliot Ramos was unable to track it down as it danced in the wind. It fell in to tie the game.
Four innings earlier, Ramos hit a soft infield fly with a man on first just over Harper's head but it changed direction multiple times in the air and eluded Harper's mitt. The first baseman didn't panic, though, picking up the ball up and calmly firing to second for the force-out.
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The conditions made Realmuto's second-inning home run to left-center field, directly into the wind, even more impressive. It was Realmuto's first at-bat since a frustrating called strike three ended the Phillies' seventh inning Monday night with two men on and two out, down four runs. The pitch Realmuto was rung up on Monday was well off the plate and he let home plate umpire Tony Randazzo know about it.
There was more frustration on Tuesday after the Phillies relinquished an early lead for the second straight night, gave the Giants costly free bases and ran into two outs on the basepaths themselves. The Giants tied the game in the top of the fourth after slow-footed Matt Chapman and Wilmer Flores executed a double-steal on Jesus Luzardo's first move to the plate. It was the third time already in the game that the Giants ran on Luzardo's first move but the first two pitches were fouled off. They seemed to have something on him. Luzardo's next pitch after the double steal was lined into left field by Casey Schmitt for a two-run single. When the Giants later took the lead briefly in the sixth, a run scored on a groundout just after Orion Kerkering threw a wild pitch to advance him to third.
The Phils went ahead with four singles in the bottom of the sixth and received an important shutdown inning from Jordan Romano. The first-year Phillie seems to be settling in — he's faced the minimum nine batters over his last three outings, allowing just one baserunner.
Jose Alvarado had a dicey eighth inning, allowing three straight singles to the top of the Giants' order but recovered with a popup, strikeout and flyout to the warning track. Matt Strahm closed it out as the Phillies improved to 10-7.
Wednesday's assignment goes to Aaron Nola, who is 0-3 with a 5.51 ERA and looking to find a rhythm himself.
