*Photo from the Boston Globe*
Philadelphia leads series 1-0
We're finding out this postseason why they're called the Fightins. Nick Castellanos had a 3 hit game, Alec Bohm drove in two runs, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Atlanta Braves with a 7-6 victory on Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta.
Entering the NLDS against the division rival Braves, the Phillies were riding high after a two game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the wild card round. They picked up their 3rd straight win with the game one victory, and have their two best starters lined up for games two and 3.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said that "This is a very unselfish club, and that’s the way they’re playing. We get ahead and they’re adding on runs. Vierling, big bunt to move a runner over. Our situational hitting was really good today. Our baserunning was really good, taking extra bases and sac flies. And I just thought we played a really good game overall defensively."
Castellanos started the scoring for the Phillies, singling to right field that scored JT Realmuto and make it a 1-0 game. Bryce Harper then crossed the plate on an RBI single from Bohm, doubling the lead to 2-0. Travis D'Arnaud hit a solo homer to make it 2-1 in the second. A sac fly from Bohn and an RBI single from Jean Segura in the 3rd inning to make it a 4-1 game.
In the 4th inning, Castellanos made the Phillies lead 6-1 with a two run single. In the top of the 5th, a sac fly from Edmundo Sosa made it a 7-1 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, D'Arnaud laced a two run double to cut the deficit to 7-3. Matt Olson made it a 7-6 game in the 9th with a 3 run home run, but the Braves couldn't score again.
One thing that can't be lost on this game is the effort on defense by Castellanos. On a quickly falling ball in the 9th, with the Braves down one, Castellanos made a break on it from right field. He broke into a half dive, half slide, and made the play to get the second out of the inning, saving the Phillies from allowing the tying run to reach base.
Ranger Suarez lasted just 3 1/3 innings in his start, allowing one run on 3 hits with 5 strikeouts. Andrew Bellatti finished the 4th for Suarez. After that, Connor Brogdon and Brad Hand pitched the 5th, with Seranthony Dominguez pitching two innings. Jose Alvarado and Zach Eflin also pitched an inning.
Max Fried started for the Braves, allowing 6 runs on 8 hits while also pitching 3 1/3 innings. Jesse Chavez allowed one run while going 1 1/3 innings. Dylan Lee pitched one inning, Collin McHugh worked 1 1/3 innings, and Jackson Stephens pitched two innings.
Atlanta shortstop Dansby Swanson said of losing the opener that "You’ve just got to play well. I don’t think today we played particularly our best. We did in moments, but not for nine innings. We gave ourselves a chance at the end, but we weren’t able to come through."
Up next, the Phillies and Braves play game two on Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta. The Phillies send Zack Wheeler to the mound, while Kyle Wright goes for the Braves.
Comments
Post a Comment