That has to be the most pathetic thing that has happened in quite a while.
Anyway, Nola settled down after this and actually had a solid rest of the inning and bottom of the fifth. In the sixth, the Phillies began their ascent.
Edmundo led off the inning with a broken bat single, followed by a laser double by Johan Rojas to move Sosa to third. Schwarber rapped a hard groundball up the middle to score Sosa and give the Phillies their first run. Trea Turner followed with a sacrifice fly to knot the game at two.
The Braves got a little frisky in the sixth when singles by Arcia and Ramon Laureano put two men on with one out, but instead of letting Nola work through it, Thomson moved to the bullpen and got Jeff Hoffman. For his part, Hoffman induced a double play that extinguished the fire for the Phillies.
In the eighth, with the game still tied, Weston Wilson led off with a double, then got moved to third when pinch hitter Bryson Stott flew out to deep center field. Brandon Marsh pinch hit as well and he also executed, flying out to nearly the warning track to score Wilson and give the Phillies the lead.
Matt Strahm dominated his part of the eighth, which paved the way for Carlos Estevez in the ninth.
That was fun.
A leadoff walk made things interesting, but Estevez got Jorge Soler to pop out. A single by Gio Urshela made things more interesting, but a jam shot groundball from Michael Harris was the second out even though both runners moved into scoring position. Whit Merrifield was due up and that struck fear in all of us, but then Merrifield reminded us of his early 2024 self, grounding out to first to end the game.
Another battle between these two teams that thankfully ended with the Phillies getting back to seven games up in the division. They’ll finish things off tomorrow night in front of a national audience.
Why, I never thought I’d live to see the day.
No I’m not talking about seeing a Phillies actually win a game, you cretins. No, I’m talking about how they won the game. Using small ball? Get him over, get him in? My goodness...
It’s a good thing too, since it would have wasted a good showing from Aaron Nola and the rest of the pitching staff, one where it looked for a while that that was exactly what was going to happen. Instead, the lead is back to seven games and there is hope tomorrow that the trip to Atlanta won’t be spoiled.
The first few innings were quite boring. Nola and his opponent Max Fried were quite good, getting through the first two innings with a bit of ease. In the third, the Braves threatened by loading the bases with two outs thanks to a walk, a single and a walk, but Nola sapped Sean Murphy of his strength to end the threat and the frame. The Phillies looked like they might mount some offense of their own in the fourth with a leadoff hit by Kyle Schwarber, but a nifty play by Gio Ursehla to start a double play snuffed that rally out.
What happens when a team makes a sparkling defensive play in the field? They score when they bat. That’s what happened when Jarred Kelenic singled and Orlando Arcia homered to make it 2-0.
Now, an interesting subplot to everything that happens between Arcia and the Phillies is the infamous clubhouse celebration following NLCS Game 2 that saw Arcia poking the bear that is Bryce Harper and Harper responding by homering twice in Game 3 and staring daggers through Arcia each time he rounded the bases. Tonight - a mid August game on a Wednesday, mind you - was the time Arcia got a chance to exact revenge that he clearly vowed to himself last year.
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) drives in a run on a ground out against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Truist Park.
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
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