Hoskins’ grand slam powers Phillies to win in finale against Mariners
Final Score: Phillies 4, Mariners 2
At this point in the season, already 7 1/2 games back of the Mets in the division at the start of the day, the Phillies need to start racking up W’s, and they were able to do that on Wednesday afternoon in Seattle.
For the second straight game, the Phillies fell victim to a questionable decision by the umpires. After a lengthy review, the original call of the runner being safe stood, and two batters later, Julio Rodríguez singled to left field to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
Alec Bohm singled to lead off the fourth, and Bryce Harper walked to bring up Nick Castellanos with two on and nobody out. Castellanos just missed what would have been his sixth home run of the season, but Bohm moved to third on the flyout, and Harper stole second before Jean Segura walked to load the bases for Rhys Hoskins.
Hoskins has homered the past two days, and had two additional long flyouts to left yesterday evening. Today, he didn’t miss, hitting a laser into the left field seats to clear the bases and give the Phillies a 4-1 lead. This was Hoskins’ second career grand slam, with his first coming on Opening Day in 2019 against the Braves.
Hoskins had struggled coming into this series in Seattle, but he has homered in all three games this series, and raised his batting average from .189 at the start of the series to .224 at the end of today’s ballgame.
Seranthony Domínguez replaced Bailey Falter after 4 2/3 innings, and his first pitch to Ty France resulted in a groundout to shortstop to end the inning and strand Adam Frazier at second.
Domínguez returned for the sixth inning and allowed a one-out double to J.P. Crawford, the Phillies’ first-round pick in the 2013 draft who was traded to the Mariners for Segura prior to the 2019 season. He struck out the next two batters he faced to strand a man at second for the second straight inning.
José Alvarado was on the mound to begin the seventh, and he got two outs but also walked two batters before being replaced by Jeurys Familia. Familia allowed a single to Ty France to make it a 4-2 ballgame, but he retired Rodríguez to strand runners on the corners and keep the lead at two.
Familia stayed on the mound to begin the eighth inning, and walked the leadoff batter but retired the next two hitters he faced.
Corey Knebel came in the game to attempt a four-out save, and he struck out Jesse Winker to end the eighth before retiring the Mariners 1-2-3 in the ninth for his sixth save of the season.
Tomorrow, they begin a four-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, who are returning home after losing two of three in Pittsburgh to the Pirates. The Dodgers enter the series with a 20-9 record on the season. Zack Wheeler will man the bump for the Phillies in game one of the series, and he’ll be opposed by Dodgers’ left-hander Tyler Anderson, who is 3-0 with a 2.78 ERA.
Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance
Bailey Falter: 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 65 pitches
In his first major league start of the season, Falter stepped in and gave the Phillies effective innings and put them in a position to win the ballgame.
Of the five hits he allowed, three were singles, and the fourth was the play at second base that appeared to be an out. Limiting the opposition to singles and not walking any batters is a good formula for winning ballgames, and that is what Falter was able to deliver today.
Logan Gilbert: 5 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 95 pitches
Gilbert was effective for the first three innings, but two walks in the fourth came back to bite him when Hoskins delivered his big blow.
When Gilbert was able to find the strike zone, he was missing bats and had a stretch of four straight strikeouts after allowing the grand slam, but at that point, the damage was already done.
Phillies Nugget Of The Game
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Thursday, May 12 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium
- 10:10 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Radio: Sportsradio 94 WIP
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