Categories: 2022 Postgame Recaps

Bamboo Brad gets his revenge as Rangers sweep Phillies

Final Score: Rangers 2, Phillies 1

“Old friend” Brad Miller wasn’t too kind to the Phillies on Wednesday night. Against the lefty Brad Hand, the two-time Phillie broke a 0-0 tie on a two-run single to right in the 10th inning, scoring the “ghost runner” Adolis García and Eli White. The timely hit decided the game and handed the Rangers a two-game sweep of the Phillies on the road.

Brad Miller knocked in the game-winning run against his former club on Wednesday. (Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire)

To make matters worse, former Phillie Matt Moore played a huge role in shutting down the Phillies offense. He threw 1 2/3 shutout innings as the first reliever out of the bullpen. He now has a 0.75 ERA with the Rangers as a multi-inning, high-leverage arm with a potent curveball.

It had appeared at first glance that the Phillies had a one-run lead over Texas in the bottom of the sixth. New father of two Nick Castellanos hit a fly ball the other way to right that carried. A fan in the first row leaned over to catch the ball and dropped it. Home run was the original call on the field, but it was overturned and Castellanos was told to go to second. Bryce Harper flew out to end the inning.

The Rangers’ best threat against Wheeler came in the seventh. García reached on a leadoff walk. Two batters later, Mitch Garver hit a blooper that landed between Kyle Schwarber and Didi Gregorius. Both charged the ball and the result was a collision between the two with Gregorius’ foot glancing off Schwarber’s head. Both appeared to be OK.

One pitch later, Mitch Garver hit a similar pop up that drifted closer to the third-base line. With Alec Bohm, Schwarber and Gregorius all moving toward the ball, Bohm caught it and made a perfect throw to home to get the tagging García for the final out.

Facing the former Phillie Moore for the second-consecutive inning, Schwarber reached on an infield single with two outs in the ninth. Roman Quinn came into the game as a pinch-runner and stole second. With the winning run at second, Segura lined out to the new pitcher Matt Bush to bring the inning to an anticlimatic end.

It’s early, but the Phillies are in a tough spot. They head into what should be a tough four-game series against the Mets with three-straight losses and an 11-14 record. They could finish anywhere between two or 10 games back of first place in the NL East.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

Martín Perez: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 SO, 88 pitches

Perez was solid in his sixth career start against the Phillies. He had only two 1-2-3 innings the entire night, but was able to get out of any trouble he found himself in thanks to three double play balls.

Zack Wheeler: 7 2/3 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 SO, 78 pitches

Pulling Wheeler after 7 2/3 innings and 78 pitches was an unpopular decision. Wednesday was his most electric outing by far. He averaged 96 mph on his fastball, missed 16 bats and struck out seven Ranger hitters. He threw 90 pitches over six innings in his last start. You would have to think that the decision to take him out of the game had more to do with the number of “up-and-downs” and not matchups or his performance.

Phillies Nugget Of The Game

One fly ball from Hoskins in the ninth looked like it had the chance to win the game.

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