*Photo from the Philadelphia Inquirer*
When Matt Vierling made contact, he knew it right away. JT Realmuto homered, Vierling provided the game winning hit, and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings on Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
The walk off hit from Vierling helped the Phillies split a two game series with the Blue Jays at home. The Phillies maintained a multi game gap on the last wild card spot in the NL, leading the Milwaukee Brewers by 2 1/2 games entering play on Thursday.
Vierling said of his walk off hit that "I made the swing, saw it go up and knew immediately. It doesn’t get much better than that. Seeing everybody come out, how fired up they were, especially how things have been going. Hopefully we can carry that on."
The first 7 innings of the game went scoreless as a pitchers duel ensued. With two runners on in the top of the 8th inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr broke the ice, hammering a 3 run home run to left field to put the Blue Jays ahead 3-0. In the bottom of the 8th, Realmuto started the Phillies comeback with a solo home run, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Later in the 8th, with Jean Segura on base, Daulton Guthrie singled him home, cutting the Phillies deficit to 3-2. Guthrie then came around to score on Kyle Schwarber's single, tying the game 3-3 after 8 innings. In the 10th inning, with the bases loaded, Yairo Munoz scored on the walk off single from Vierling.
Getting the start for the Phillies was Zack Wheeler, who worked 4 shutout innings in his return from the IL. Noah Syndergaard worked two relief innings, followed by appearances from Jose Alvarado, Seranthony Dominguez, Nick Nelson, David Robertson, and Andrew Bellatti.
Wheeler said of his first start back that "My goal was to put zeros on the board, but go as deep as I possibly can. Get us to a certain point and let the guys take over. These young guys did it again. Just to have that belief. That’s what good teams do. You never stop."
Starting opposite Wheeler was Kevin Gausman for Toronto. Gausman worked 6 shutout innings while striking out 8 hitters. Tim Mayza worked one inning, with Yimi Garcia working 2/3 of an inning, Jordan Romano pitching 1 1/3 innings, and Adam Cimber pitching the 10th inning.
Gausman said of the loss after the game that "Obviously, a rough way to end the night, but I thought we battled the same way we have the last couple nights, and really, the last week. We’ve been playing exceptional baseball. It’s unfortunate the way we lost, but we just continue to play good baseball at an important time of the season."
Up next, the Phillies get back in action on Thursday night against the Atlanta Braves, with Ranger Suarez starting the series opener. The Blue Jays hit the road to face the Tampa Bay Rays, with Jose Berrios getting the start.
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