Alec Bohm has big night at the plate, as Phillies avoid sweep
It’s unclear how long Alec Bohm will play third base at the major league level, but Sunday, the Philadelphia Phillies rookie flashed the potential that makes the organization think he’ll be in the lineup for the better part of the next decade, regardless of where he plays defensively.
When you couple that with an incredible defensive play to end the game, the Phillies will able to salvage their series with the Atlanta Braves and avoid a weekend sweep.
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In the top of the second, Alec Bohm waited on a pitch and crushed it 446 feet over the center field wall for his first career home run:
Rhys Hoskins added to the Phillies lead in the top of the third inning, as he brought Andrew McCutchen and himself home with a 397-foot home run:
Just as Alex Rodriguez was talking about how great of a teammate Didi Gregorius was, the Phillies shortstop added to the lead with a home run of his own, a 398-foot line drive shot:
The Braves cut into the Phillies lead in the home half of the third inning, when all-time Phillie killer Freddie Freeman brought home two runs with an opposite-field double:
With Freeman on third base, Marcell Ozuna hit a ball sharply in the direction of Bohm at third base. While Bohm was playing slightly in, instead of trying to get in front of the ball, he tried to take it on the side and it ended up in the outfield, bringing a run in for the Braves
The Phillies did add on a fifth run in the top of the fourth with an RBI single by Andrew McCutchen with the bases loaded. However, the team began the inning with the bases loaded and no one out, and none of Hoskins, Harper or J.T. Realmuto was able to add onto the lead.
In the fifth inning, McCutchen flew out to leave the bases loaded.
New Phillies reliever Heath Hembree was asked to come into a high-leverage situation in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Braves had runners on second and third base with just one out after consecutive poor defensive plays from Hoskins and Bohm. Luckily for the Phillies, Hembree was able to retire Johan Camargo and Ender Inciarte. Hembree came back out for the seventh inning and recorded three outs as well.
After Tommy Hunter pitched a clean eighth inning, Brandon Workman allowed Freddie Freeman to line a ball into the left-center field gap with two outs and runners on first and second base. Fortunately for the Phillies, Roman Quinn cut the ball off quickly, fired a strike to Gregorius and he made a perfect throw to Knapp, who tug out Dansby Swanson at the plate to end the game:
Braves starter Josh Tomlin didn’t have a very good night, as he gave up six hits and four earned runs across just three innings. The Phillies tagged Tomlin for three separate home runs.
Despite pretty poor fielding behind him, Zach Eflin gave the Phillies a chance to win Sunday night. Across 5 1/3 innings, the 26-year-old struck out six Braves and limited the Braves to six hits and three runs.
Bohm didn’t have a great night defensively after some errors in the field Friday, but he was tremendous at the plate Sunday evening. The 24-year-old went 3-3 with a home run, two singles and a walk.