Categories: 2021 Postgame Recaps

Phillies avoid disaster vs. Yankees, win on walk-off yet again

The Phillies defeated the Yankees Saturday. (Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Phillies 8, Yankees 7 (10 innings)

Citizens Bank Park welcomed its largest crowd since Sept. 15 2019 Saturday, as 38,450 fans showed up for the Philadelphia Phillies-New York Yankees interleague clash.

We could spend time trying to estimate what percentage of the fans at the game were rooting for the Yankees, but those in attendance were treated to one of the wildest games of the 2021 season.

The Phillies won in walk-off fashion for the third consecutive game, but the path that they took to get there wasn’t especially encouraging.

Top Plays

After Vince Velasquez needed just six pitches to retire the Yankees in the top of the first, the Phillies got after Jameson Taillon in the home half of the inning. Odúbel Herrera, Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto all singled, with Herrera and Segura being plated by Bryce Harper, who had a single of his own:

The Phillies added a third run in the first on an Andrew McCutchen sacrifice fly to deep right field, which allowed Realmuto to score. Alec Bohm followed that with an RBI single into right field, with Harper coming up to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead. This knocked Taillon out of the game.
Nestor Cortes Jr. entered the game in relief, and while he did allow Ronald Torreyes to single, no more runs came home as Velasquez and Herrera struck out to end the inning.
Rather quickly, the Yankees cut into the Phillies lead, as Gary Sánchez hit a 407-foot home run into left center field with one out in the top of the second:

Later in the inning, Brett Gardner tripled into the right-field corner, bringing home a second run, making it 4-2 Phillies:

The Phillies threatened in the second after Realmuto walked and Harper singled into right field, but Rhys Hoskins popped up and McCutchen struck out to strand Realmuto at third base.
Herrera led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a double down the left field line, and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. The Phillies would go up 5-2 on an RBI single by Segura, who simply flared a ball into left field.
Velasquez danced around trouble in the top of the fifth, ultimately standing runners on the corners by striking out Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres.
Bohm – who may be beginning to figure things out at the plate – added another run on an RBI single in the home half of the fifth, which scored Hoskins.
Torreyes, a former Yankee, then hit a ball hard off third basemen Gio Urshella’s glove, which kicked away. This allowed McCutchen to score, Bohm to advance to third base and Torreyes, becoming something of a fan favorite, to get to second base. Herrera and Segura would ground out to end the inning, preventing the Phillies from adding more runs.
Rougned Odor – at the old stomping grounds of his buddy José Bautista – hit a home run off the facing of the second deck in right field off of Sam Coonrod. It was a solo shot that pulled the Yankees within four in the top of the sixth inning:

Ranger Suárez came in to pitch. the top of the eighth inning, and allowed his first run of the 2021 season. Judge, who singled to lead off the inning, scored on an RBI single into right field from Sánchez. A throw home from Harper was just a bit late to prevent Judge from scoring.
Suárez was able to limit the damage, though. Giancarlo Stanton – he of the 27 career home runs against the Phillies – came on the pinch hit. Despite hitting a ball pretty hard back at Suárez, Stanton was thrown out at first by the lefty pitcher.
Two days after blowing a save attempt against the Atlanta Braves, Héctor Neris got the ball again in the ninth Saturday, with the Phillies winning 7-4. Neris walked Tyler Wade and Gardner, before allowing the game-tying home run to LeMahieu:

Harper scorched a double to left-center field to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Phillies were unable to bring him in. Hoskins popped up, and just prior to Chad Green striking out Torreyes to end the inning, Gleyber Torres made a game-saving play on a hard-hit ground ball from Bohm:

Torres opened extras as the runner on second base for the Yankees, but Archie Bradley did an excellent job of preventing anyone from scoring, highlighted by freezing Kyle Higashioka to end the top half of the 10th.

Given that he made the last out in the bottom of the ninth, Torreyes was placed on second base to begin the home half of the 10th. Travis Jankowski, pinch hitting for Bradley, laid down what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt. Instead, Aroldis Chapman fielded it and fired high to first, allowing Jankowski to reach base and Torreyes to move to third. After Herrera popped up, Segura smoked the ball down the third base line, which Urshela made a diving stop on. Fortunately for the Phillies, Urshela couldn’t get enough on the throw home, allowing Torreyes to score the game-winning run. This marks the third straight game that the Phillies have won in walk-off fashion, and the third time this season that Segura has walked the team off:

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

Teams have long been intrigued by the potential upside of Jameson Taillon, but so far, an offseason trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates hasn’t worked out for the righty. Taillon lasted just 1/3 of an inning, allowing five hits and four earned runs. On the season, the 29-year-old now has a 5.74 ERA.
Vince Velasquez continues to strand runners in scoring position at what’s likely an unsustainable rate, but it’s worked for him throughout much of the 2021 season. Velasquez struck out five, while scattering six hits and two runs across five innings. The Yankees went 0-7 with runners in scoring position against him.

Postgame Notes

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