Pitching matchups are fun when they are marquee matchups. Logan Webb against Cristopher Sanchez is something one might consider marquee. It was that way for a while, but a wild ending propelled the Phillies to a victory, one that gave them their first series win since Easter.
The Giants opened the scoring by getting to Sanchez early. Heliot Ramos doubled on the first pitch of the game, then scored when Luis Arraez grounded out, giving the Giants a lead. Matt Chapman, who had doubled after Ramos, scored when Casey Schmitt singled him home and the lead was 2-0. In the bottom of the first, Kyle Schwarber responded by hitting a titanic shot off of starter Logan Webb, making it 2-1.
From there, the pitchers settled in and dominated the game. Webb looked excellent, setting down the Phillies with relative ease while Sanchez also traded zeroes on the scoreboard. The biggest threat on offense was in the fourth inning. Adolis Garcia and Brandon Marsh singled and doubled, respectively, to open the frame with no one out.
Then Bryson Stott struck out in an ugly, ugly at bat with the infield back, conceding a run.
Then Edmundo Sosa grounded out with the infield in, making Garcia a sacrificial lamb at home.
Then Justin Crawford bunted.
The Phillies didn’t score.
Things looked bleak as they had wasted their best chance then and weren’t doing much of anything outside of perfecting the art of grounding into double plays on the first pitch thrown. Yet in the ninth, with Ryan Walker on trying to end it for the Giants, the offense came alive. Garcia singled to open things, followed by a strikeout by Marsh. With that one out and Stott up, it was a reminder that the last time the Phillies fired a manager midseason, Stott hit a walkoff home run in the first weekend of the new manager’s tenure. Things didn’t happen the same this time, but how about an RBI triple?
I’ll allow it.
How about an RBI infield single by Crawford to end the game?
The kid has had his struggles this year, but he also has now two walk off hits for the team. That’s going to play in the major leagues.
As mentioned above, this was the Phillies’ first series win since Easter. They begin the Mattingly regime with two victories and now we can say they’ve won three out of four.
Maybe the start of something?
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