Maybe the Seattle Mariners should challenge the Phillies in a game of Quidditch, because through two games with them in baseball this series, they haven’t had much success.
Cristopher Sánchez showed off his pitching wizardry once again on Harry Potter night and J.T. Realmuto’s go-ahead home run propelled the Phillies to a 6-4 win over the Mariners.
Sánchez was wonderful. He went 7 1/3 innings with 12 strikeouts, two walks and six allowed hits. Of the 27 batters he faced, he threw a first-pitch strike on 26 of them.
After getting his last strikeout of the night to begin the seventh, Sánchez walked nine-hole hitter Dylan Holmes on his 96th pitch. Manager Rob Thomson then called for Orion Kerkering out of the bullpen and he proceeded to walk the next two batters on eight pitches to load the bases.
A groundout by Julio Rodriguez made it 4-2 before Eugenio Suarez tied it with a double down the left-field line. Then quickly, a Sánchez win disappeared.
It was the seventh time in his career that Sánchez struck out double-digit batters and the fourth time he has done it this season. He left to a thunderous standing ovation, shortly taken over by boos after Kerkering’s effort.
“I think it was just about calming down the emotions during the game and calming myself down, and also to execute our game plan that we had,” said Sánchez, who allowed a leadoff baserunner in four of the seven innings he started. “I think (my slider) is just feeling better overall with every start and tonight wasn’t the exception. I just think that it’s a pitch that’s getting better when I go on the mound.
“That’s just a part of the game and I’m always going to have my team’s back. If the next guy up performs well or doesn’t, I always got his back. It’s just a part of it.”
Home runs were prominent for the Phillies again Tuesday. Kyle Schwarber opened the scoring in the first with his 44th homer. In the third, Bryce Harper drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and J.T. Realmuto added an RBI single. Bryson Stott then crushed one off the right-field scoreboard in the fourth for a 4-1 lead – one that looked safe until Kerkering’s rough seventh inning ended his streak of seven scoreless appearances.
Then came the Realmuto heroics. Harper led off the eighth with a single to left. Then on the first pitch from Mariners right hander Matt Brash, Realmuto launched a no-doubter deep into the left-field seats for the winning runs. David Robertson got the win by pitching a perfect eighth and Jhoan Duran picked up his sixth save as a Phillie in the ninth.
“Just trying to get a pitch in the heart of the plate, honestly,” said Realmuto on his ninth homer of the season. “He’s got really good stuff, got a wipeout slider. I was just trying to get something in the middle of the plate to swing on and he gave me one.
“That one was exciting. That’s a really good team over there. That was a pretty intense game with them coming back and tying the game on us. The emotions were definitely high after that swing.”
They’ve been high for a few days now after the announcement that Zack Wheeler was diagnosed with a blood clot near his right shoulder. It’s been a reality check that life comes first, and baseball a distant second. But the game does have to go on, and if it does, winning is a pretty good distraction.
“Not at all,” said Sánchez of the thought of replacing Wheeler. “I think that no one can fill Zack’s shoes on the mound. He’s just one of the best pitchers, not just on this team, but in the whole game. I don’t think anyone would argue that.
“Very sad. He is one of my favorite pitchers and I really felt bad for him. We talked a little, we texted each other. Hopefully everything goes well.”
It did for the Phillies on Tuesday. Magical, some would say.
The Mariners were bound to face a 100-mile-an-hour reliever in this one, as the team activated José Alvarado earlier in the day after he completed his 80-game suspension for PEDs. He probably would have seen action if the margin of the game was wider.
As it was, Seattle got to see closer Jhoan Duran in the ninth, and he did what he does – throw extreme heat and save games. He did just that with a perfect inning that included a three-pitch strikeout on Cal Raleigh. All three pitches were 102 MPH fastballs that Raleigh couldn’t catch up to.
That prompted Realmuto to give the line of the night about the team’s new closer.
“I know with how hard it is to catch, it can’t be fun to hit.”
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