*Photo from the Philadelphia Inquirer*
Through the chaos and turmoil of a 162 game season, they got it done, and it was a long time coming. Kyle Schwarber homered twice, Bryson Stott homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Houston Astros with a 3-0 shutout victory on Monday night in Houston.
The victory on Monday night marks the Phillies 3rd straight win, but just their 4th in the last 10 games. It increases their record to 87-73 with just two games left in the regular season. They rode the bats of Schwarber and Stott to a win, but it was a really important win.
With the win, the Phillies officially secured the final playoff spot in the NL and baseball, becoming the 12th team in the playoffs. It's the first time they've made the playoffs since 2011, ending a 11 year playoff drought. Through a managerial change, injuries to key players, and constant criticism on team defense and pitching, they persevered and got it done.
The Phillies were limping into the month of June, and had a 22-29 record entering play on June 3rd. That was when Dave Dombrowski made a change, firing manager Joe Girardi and naming bench coach Rob Thomson interim manager for the season.
Schwarber said in the locker room that "It’s very satisfying, because you know what, it's a long season. t’s unbelievably long, and to see the things that we went through as a team, where you go through a manager change, you go through Harp being down, you go through Seggy being down, you go through Wheeler being down, you go through the naysayers saying we can’t catch the baseball, it makes it that much more satisfying to be where we’re at."
It was Schwarber who started things off with a bang, blasting a solo home run to left center field. As the first batter of the game, his leadoff homer put the Phillies ahead by a 1-0 score after one batter and one inning.
The score stayed 1-0 for a while. How long is a while? Well, until the 8th inning. Stott got it started back up, hitting a solo home run to right field, putting the Phillies ahead 2-0. The next batter was Schwarber, who connected on his second homer of the night, making it 3-0 and a win for the Phillies.
Phillies star Bryce Harper said that "I think when we started out when I signed here in ‘19, I think I said it was going to take us a couple years. We’re not where we need to be right now, of course. This is Step 1 to hopefully greater success and a greater opportunity to get where we need to be. But we’re going to enjoy this, we’re going to have fun. There’s nothing like popping bottles in October, and I’m excited to be part of this."
Starting for the Phillies was Aaron Nola, who turned in one of his best starts of the season, yielding just two hits while striking out 9 hitters in 6 2/3 innings. Jose Alvarado pitched the next 1 1/3 innings, with Zach Eflin pitching the 9th for his first save of the season.
For the Astros, it was Lance McCullers Jr on the mound, allowing one run on 6 hits while pitching 6 innings, getting tagged with the loss. Jose Urquidy came on in relief and allowed two runs in two innings, with Phil Maton throwing the 9th inning.
Houston manager Dusty Baker said of McCullers that "He threw the ball great. He had his changeup working, his sinker. It was coming out of his hand good. You can tell by the way it was coming out of his hand. He feels good if his arm feels good. Usually, he has his breaking ball working. Like I said, he threw the ball great; Nola threw the ball better."
Up next, the Phillies and Astros continue their series on Tuesday night in Houston. The Phillies start Ranger Suarez going for their 4th straight win, while Justin Verlander goes for the Astros.
Comments
Post a Comment