Categories: 2022 Postgame Recaps

Huge lead almost slips away; Phillies hang on to defeat Pirates

Jeurys Familia struggled Thursday. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Phillies 8, Pirates 7

The 2022 Philadelphia Phillies were constructed to win games by either of two methods: abundant offense or dominant starting pitching. Sometimes, those two things click enough that another aspect of the game — defense, bullpen — can’t erase it, despite its best efforts.

The bullpen certainly gave its best effort on Thursday. Specifically, Jeurys Familia — whose future with the team has to be hanging in the balance, at this point — gave his best effort. What was once an 8-0 lead dwindled from 8-2 to 8-7 in the ninth before Seranthony Domínguez finally put out the fire.

It should not have come to that. In any case, the win moved the Phillies to 52-47 and into a tie with the St. Louis Cardinals for the third Wild Card spot.

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A 3-4-5 at any point of Alec Bohm, Darick Hall and Nick Castellanos would’ve felt unfathomable before the season began, but that’s what the heart of the Phillies’ lineup looked like on Thursday. It worked out alright.

After Rhys Hoskins’ second-inning bloop single started the party, Bohm came through with a 105.9-mph single that extended his hitting streak to 13 games. Next, Darick Hall’s 101.8 mph, adventurous first career triple put the Phillies up early:

Then, Castellanos singled Hall home at 104 mph for three straight rockets, a 3-0 lead and the first of three hits for the struggling right fielder.

The Phillies picked up three more hits above 100 mph in the second inning, when singles by Matt Vierling and Kyle Schwarber set up another knock for Bohm, this one an RBI:

Thompson somewhat settled in across the next three frames, retiring 12 of the next 13 Phillies. But with the bases empty and Thompson one out away from completing six innings, the Phillies struck for three straight hits. The final was a three-run home run from Kyle Schwarber that matched his 2021 home run total of 32, made the score 7-0 and ended Thompson’s night:

Meanwhile, Zack Wheeler continued to deal. He fired seven innings of two-run ball, the lone scoring play (Cal Mitchell’s two-run homer) occurring with the Phillies already ahead by eight.

But things almost completely blew up in the ninth, as Familia nearly offered a flashback to the infamous blown 7-1 ninth-inning lead against the Mets in May.

He struck out the first hitter before allowing the next five to reach base, bringing the tying run up to the plate. A game that Domínguez never anticipated entering instead ended with him on the mound, the margin of error down to zero, what could’ve been a nice night off soiled — and, yet, the Phillies barely victorious.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

Zach Thompson: 5.2 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 99 pitches (67 strikes)

It’s hard to allow 11 instances of triple-digit exit velocity and enjoy much success, and Thompson didn’t provide an exception to that rule on Thursday. He had gone seven straight starts of two or fewer runs allowed, but he’s now allowed seven in each of his last two. His ERA is 5.09.

Zack Wheeler: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO, 1 HR, 97 pitches (66 strikes)

The Pirates offense entered the day third-to-last in baseball in on base percentage and slugging and second-to-last in batting average. Wheeler entered at seventh in the National League in ERA. Given those facts, the Pirates did alright for themselves. Wheeler’s ERA dropped exactly one point, from 2.78 to 2.77.

Phillies Nugget Of The Game

Bohm hit third Thursday for the first time since September 2020. He went 2-for-5 with exit velocities of 105.3, 105.9 and 107.4.

He is on fire. His .435 batting average in July leads Major League Baseball. And his offense translated to defense on Thursday.

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