While you were asleep, the Phillies won a bonkers game
Those that are sick enough to stay up until the early morning hours to watch baseball were rewarded with one of the more entertaining Phillies games of the year. Those that fell asleep get to read about it.
Saturday night leading into Sunday morning’s Phillies vs. Athletics game had a little bit of everything: A game-saving outfield assist, a Bryce Harper hit with no batting gloves, a Schwarber home run against a lefty, a ninth-inning home run against one of the best closers in baseball, a rare base-runner interference call and an even rarer Phillies relief outing on back-to-back-to-back days.
All of those events led to a thrilling 9-6 Phillies victory over the A’s in 11 innings. Philadelphia (34-18) have won nine in a row for the first time since June 2022. The Athletics (22-31) have lost 11 straight.
Pick your hero. In the bottom of the 10th, Brandon Marsh made an incredible catch and throw in center field to gun down the debuting pinch runner Logan Davidson to turn bases loaded and nobody out to two on and two out for Orion Kerkering. His manager Rob Thomson bended his strict bullpen usage rules by giving him the ball for a third day in the row. The 24-year-old has rebounded from an extremely difficult start to his year, and is now the Phillies’ preferred option to strand inherited runners late.
Kerkering’s scoreless outing gave the Phillies one more chance to come through in the 11th inning. Kyle Schwarber delivered the final blow with a two-run double to right field. As he rounded first, Schwarber ran into the first baseman Davidson, who blocked his path to the next base. He took third, knowing he was going to be tagged out, but should be safe due to the obstruction call. Schwarber turned it on one more time to score on the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly. The linchpin of the Phillies lineup went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs.
In the ninth inning, the Phillies were down 6-5 with star closer Mason Miller coming in for the save. They had to feel good about their chances a night after the Phillies scored three runs against him and made him throw 27 pitches. Miller was shaky once again and Max Kepler, who came off the bench earlier in the game, got a 101.4 mph fastball middle-in, and hit it out at 101.4 mph for a game-tying home run.
Really, the Phillies had no business winning a game like this. Cristopher Sánchez struggled with his command and could not complete five innings. With the bullpen down Matt Strahm and Jordan Romano, the Phillies had to piece things together to survive. Give the entire unit credit. The bullpen combined to throw 6 1/3 innings, allowing only two earned runs. Max Lazar, recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Monday, recorded his first-career save in a scoreless 11th inning. Tanner Banks kept the A’s off the board with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Ross allowed a go-ahead home run to Brent Rooker, but his two innings preserved arms the Phillies needed to use later in the game to wrap up the win.
The Phillies will go for their first 10-game winning streak since Sept. 2010 on Sunday in the series finale against the Athletics. Former A’s pitcher Jesús Luzardo takes the mound. The Phillies have won each of his last five starts.