*Photo from Sportsnet*
Philadelphia leads series 3-1
There's something in the October air that is truly mystifying. Rhys Hoskins homered twice, Bryce Harper drove in two runs, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the San Diego Padres with a 10-6 victory on Saturday night in Philadelphia.
Through 4 games this series, the Phillies have scored 21 runs, almost half of which came in game 4 alone. They took a commanding 3-1 series lead with the win, moving one win away from clinching their first NL Pennant since 2009. They did all this despite coming to bat in the first inning trailing 4-0.
Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos said that "The game is going to present itself, and the game presented itself in the first inning really quickly to us. And that was a challenge that we were going to have to respond to real quick. It’s just kind of the character of the team. We got a taste of that in our first game of the postseason. It was probably the perfect game that we had because we were down all the way until the ninth inning and we were able to come back and get a win. I think that taught us quick that there was so much baseball left to be played."
The game was also particularly special for Hoskins. He has been on some kind of tear in the NLCS and added a multi homer game to the mix in game 4. It's the 8th multi homer game in the playoffs in team history, and the first since Chase Utley did so in game 5 of the 2009 World Series.
Manny Machado hit a solo homer in the top of the first, followed by a two run double from Brandon Drury and an RBI single from Ha-Seong Kim to make it 4-0 Padres to start. In the bottom, Hoskins blasted a two run homer, and Harper added an RBI double to make it 4-3. In the 4th, Castellanos scored on an RBI single from Bryson Stott to tie the game up.
In the top of the 5th, Juan Soto hit a two run homer to restore the Padres lead, making it 6-4. In the bottom of the 5th, Hoskins tied it right back up with a two run homer of his own. Harper also hit another RBI double, and Castellanos delivered an RBI single, making the score 8-6. In the 6th inning, Schwarber belted a solo homer, and Realmuto did the same in the 7th, giving the Phillies a 10-6 lead.
Castellanos said of the big game for Hoskins that "Hey, there's nobody on this team that deserves these moments in Philly more than Rhys. Because he's been here from the beginning. He's done a lot of losing here. He's been through hard times. So to be on this stage and to come through like this, I mean, I couldn't be happier for him. He deserves it."
Bailey Falter was the starter for the Phillies, and only got two outs while surrendering 4 runs. Connor Brogdon pitched 2 1/3 innings, Andrew Bellatti and Brad Hand added one each, Noah Syndergaard went 1 1/3, David Robertson 1 2/3, and Zach Eflin closed it out in the 9th inning.
Mike Clevinger started for the Padres and didn't record a single out, giving up 3 runs. Nick Martinez pitched 3 shutout innings, followed by Sean Manaea allowing 5 runs in 1 1/3 innings. Luis Garcia and Steven Wilson each gave up a run, with Adrian Morejon wrapping it up with a scoreless inning.
Padres outfielder Juan Soto said of the series deficit that "Anything can happen. They have to win another game. We aren’t going to give them that win easy. We’re going to go out there and play our best, see what happens."
Up next, game 5 of the series is on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia. The Phillies will look to punch their ticket to the World Series with Zack Wheeler starting, while Yu Darvish starts for the Padres as they look to send the series back to San Diego.
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