*Photo from Fox News*
Philadelphia wins series 3-1
This team is called the Fightin Phils for a reason after all. Bryce Harper homered and drove in a pair of runs, JT Realmuto homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Atlanta Braves with an 8-3 victory on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
Entering the postseason, the Phillies were the last team to make the playoffs. Under the previous format, they wouldn't have made it. They finished 3rd in the NL East with 87 wins. They hadn't made the playoffs since 2011. Now, they've survived two rounds and made their first NLCS since 2010.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of the road to get here "We just got off to a little bit of a slow start and kind of spiraled. And May was a really tough month. It was a really tough schedule. Then once we hit June, the schedule kind of lightened up a little bit and we started winning, and guys started getting confidence and believing that they could win and believing that, OK, now this is the team that we thought we were. And just kept going."
Another highlight of the game was the Phillies top catcher Realmuto. His 3rd inning home run was of the inside the park variety, after the ball got past Michael Harris II. The inside the parker from Realmuto makes him the first catcher in MLB history to hit an inside the park homer in the playoffs.
It was Brandon Marsh who got the Phillies on the board, blasting a 3 run home run to right field in the second inning, making it 3-0 Phillies. In the top of the 3rd, Orlando Arcia hit a solo home run, and Realmuto added his inside the parker in the bottom half, making it a 4-1 game. In the 4th, Matt Olson cut into the Braves deficit with a solo homer, the score being 4-2.
The Phillies started to pull away in the 6th inning. Rhys Hoskins went first with an RBI single to make the lead 5-2. Realmuto and Harper added RBI singles of their own, making the lead 7-2. A solo homer from Travis D'Arnaud in the 7th cut the deficit to 7-3, but a solo shot in the 8th from Harper made the score 8-3, giving the Phillies the win.
Harper said after the game that "Jayson Werth said, ‘There's nothing like Philly when it's winning.’ It's what it's all about. When you see the alumni coming back and they all talk about it, from the '80 and '93 team, they talk about what this city does and how they get behind you, how fiery and passionate they are. I think every single night we see that. The last two days, it's so much fun. I've never heard a stadium louder than that. It's incredible to see."
Noah Syndergaard picked up the start for the Phillies, working the first 3 innings, allowing one run. Andrew Bellatti allowed a run in the 4th, and Brad Hand pitched a scoreless 5th. Jose Alvarado pitched 1 2/3 innings, followed by 1 1/3 innings from Zach Eflin, and an inning from Seranthony Dominguez.
Charlie Morton started for the Braves, and was pulled after two innings due to tightness, allowing 3 runs in two innings. Collin McHugh allowed a run in two innings, followed by 1 2/3 innings from AJ Minter. Raisel Iglesias, Dylan Lee, and Kenley Jansen also pitched in the season ending loss.
Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson said of the season ending that "You never expect the season to be over until you’re the one celebrating. We’ve played with that mentality all season. They were better this series and beat us. I definitely tip my cap to them. I feel like they were the aggressors this series and kind of put us behind the eight ball quick. That’s why baseball can be so tough. You play 162 games to get to this point and anything can happen come October. It’s just not fun."
Up next, the Phillies move on to the NLCS, facing a certain team out west for game one on Tuesday. The Phillies haven't announced a starter yet.
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