Categories: 2024 Postgame Recaps

J.T. Realmuto punishes intentional walk, stars against Nationals as Phillies move to .500

J.T. Realmuto went 2-for-4 with a homer and caught a runner stealing on Saturday. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire)

On Opening Day 2021, then-Braves righty Nate Jones walked Didi Gregorius with the winning run on third base and two outs in the bottom of the 10th. It backfired. Jean Segura took it personally, strutted to the plate and delivered a walk-off single on the next pitch.

Ever since, it seems the Phillies have consistently taken more than the standard level of offense to the intentional free pass. Segura may be more than a year removed from his Phillies tenure, but his legacy lives.

With Trea Turner on second after a two-out double in the top of the third inning against the Nationals on Saturday, Jake Irvin intentionally walked Bryce Harper to get to J.T. Realmuto. Realmuto is off to a hot early start, but especially against the righty Irvin, it was far from the wrong call by Dave Martinez and co.

Try convincing Realmuto, who promptly proved that karma is indeed a cat … cher.

It was the decisive blow in a 5-2 victory that clinched the weekend series and moved the Phillies back to .500.

Ranger Suárez surrendered a two-run homer to Joey Gallo in the bottom half of that third inning, but equipped with a four-run cushion — Alec Bohm had tripled, technically, to score Realmuto in the second — Suárez earned the win by scattering two runs and four hits across six solid frames.

He was on the hook for one more after hitting Jesse Winker to start the seventh inning, his last pitch of the night. But Jeff Hoffman, as he does, retired the next three hitters to leave him there, staying on in the wraparound inning before handing the ball to Gregory Soto for the final out of the eighth. José Alvarado finished it in the ninth with the tying run in the on-deck circle.

The left side of the infield was of note for the Phillies on Saturday, for better and for worse. Bohm had the aforementioned triple, aided by the Lane Thomas misplay, and made this impressive barehanded play for the final out of the fourth.

Turner went 2-for-4, a third-inning double his second extra-base hit of the season, and stole second for his 33rd straight successful regular-season attempt to start his Phillies career. But Turner also botched a simple ground ball in the fifth inning for already his third error of the season.

No matter, at least in the short term, because Saturday’s theme was unsuccessfully challenging Realmuto. He nabbed Nasim Nuñez trying to steal second two pitches later.

His 2-for-4 day moved him to .333 on the year with a .935 OPS, and it helped move the Phillies back to .500 ahead of Sunday’s series finale, where they’ll go for the sweep behind Cristopher Sánchez.

Notes

Johan Rojas went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the win. Twice, he had a chance to drive in a runner from third with one out; that runner was thrown out at the plate from left field and first base following a flyout and groundout, respectively, both with weak contact. He’s batting .045 with a .205 OPS, and the eye test doesn’t make it look any better than the numbers.

About an hour before first pitch, the Phillies traded Connor Brogdon to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their return, upper-90s lefty Benony Robles, struck out 14.6 batters and allowed 5.2 hits and walks (each) per nine innings last year as a 22-year-old in High-A. He works mostly, though not exclusively, in relief.
Brogdon had been designated for assignment Tuesday, the day after allowing a game-winning grand slam to the Cincinnati Reds. Brogdon was honest about his struggles, physical and mental, a couple seasons after excelling during the Phillies’ 2022 postseason run. Now, his time with the Phillies is officially over.

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