Vierling delivers, Phillies protect wild card lead
Final Score (10 innings): Phillies 4, Blue Jays 3
The man who claims he knows a thing or two about game-winning hits delivered the most important victory of the season for the Phillies so far.
Matt Vierling went a career high 5-for-5 and walked off the Blue Jays in 10 innings with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory.
He had the bases loaded with one out in the 10th. He joked that he hit the ball hard, but two feet in front of home plate. He hit it hard enough that it bounced into center field.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Vierling said. “Seeing everybody come up and how fired up they were, especially with how things have been going. Hopefully we can carry that on.”
For all the fatalists out there, there was a point where it looked like the Titanic was sinking.
On a 1-0 pitch with two on and nobody out in a tie game in the top of the eighth inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. delivered what just about everyone in the ballpark knew was eventually coming: a crushing hit that would send the alarm bells ringing if they weren’t already. It was set up by a costly throwing error from Bryson Stott, his second consecutive game with a miscue. A familiar sense of doom swept through the ballpark.
Seranthony Domínguez left the game with only one out recorded. Brutal situational hitting led the Phillies to that point and it looked like they were done. With the playoff lead possibly shrinking to 1.5 games and Atlanta in town for four, you could have all but kissed postseason baseball goodbye.
Then the Phillies pulled off a refreshing eighth inning rally to tie the game. It began with a J.T. Realmuto solo home run and continued with four consecutive singles to score two runs. Jean Segura reached second on an infield hit and a throwing error by Bo Bichette. Dalton Guthrie dunked one to right and Vierling recorded his fourth single of the night.
It gave leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber a chance to come up big. With a 3-1 count, Schwarber lined a single down the right field line to make it 3-3. When the ball came off the bat, the nearly 30,000 fans collectively released whatever angst and despair they still had left to give to their team. It was cathartic and even though the Phillies couldn’t take the lead that half inning, there was at least a sense that it was OK to care, let alone believe a little bit again.
“That’s par for the course with this group,” Rob Thomson said. “They continue to fight and come back in games and put good at-bats on people. We could have shut down right there.”
Two right place, right time double plays saved the Phillies from so-so pitching out of the bullpen. Both David Robertson and Andrew Bellatti struggled with command, but they were both able to get a pair of timely outs to keep the Jays off the board. Robertson got George Springer to hit a ground ball to Bryson Stott while a line out from Teoscar Hernandez resulted in an unassisted double play from Jean Segura.
Wheeler pumps fastballs in return
Outside of all of the excitement, the most important development of the night was that Zack Wheeler looked good. He averaged 97 mph with his fastball and had good command of it all outing. Getting a feel back for it seemed to be the focus of his outing. Of his 58 pitches thrown, 48 were fastballs. He didn’t have the same command with his offspeed pitches, but that’s something he can get away with this outing since he wasn’t going through an order three times.
He threw four scoreless innings and struck out three.
“I don’t know the last time I saw 98 out of Wheels,” Thomson said. “That’s huge.”
Shibe Vintage Sports Notes
- The Phillies’ magic number to clinch a postseason berth is now 11. They maintain a 2.5-game lead in the National League wild card standings over Milwaukee. If the Phillies go 6-8 over their next 14, the Brewers would need to go 9-4 to make the postseason.
- Brandon Marsh was out of the lineup Wednesday. He left the game Tuesday due to left knee discomfort after hitting the left-center-field wall in the third inning of yesterday’s game. Thomson said he was available in an emergency situation and that he won’t start Thursday since the left-hander Max Fried pitches for the Braves.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Thursday, September 22 vs. Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park
- 7:15 p.m. ET
- TV: FOX
- Radio: Sportsradio 94 WIP
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