Bottom of Phillies lineup came through before Bryce Harper’s grand slam
Singles by the Nos. 7, 8 and 9 hitters brought up the top of the order with one out in the ninth inning.
The ceremonial showering of Bryce Harper on Thursday night after his grand slam gave the Phillies a 7-5 win over the Cubs was hard to imagine given the way the bottom of the ninth inning had started.
Jean Segura flied to center field, and with one out, the hope of sweeping the Cubs faded even more. Chicago infielder David Bote, in at shortstop for a sick Javier Baez, then bobbled a ground ball, allowing Cesar Hernandez to reach first.
That brought up the bottom third of the order, and the rally quickly began. Scott Kingery singled. Brad Miller singled. Roman Quinn singled.
“It started with an error and then pass the baton, pass the baton, pass the baton,” said first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who loaded the bases for Harper’s slam by getting hit by a pitch.
Even being down 5-1 with one out, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler thought the team was still within reach. When the bottom of the lineup strung together some hits, Kapler knew there was a chance to come back.
“We were looking to get the top of the lineup up,” Kapler said. “That’s what we really want to do. ... Get to the middle of the lineup, and it gives us a chance to win a baseball game.”
Miller, who pinch-hit for pitcher Ranger Suarez in the ninth, didn’t expect the walk-off to happen the way it did.
“We were talking in the dugout before and I’m like, ‘Let’s walk it off.’ We always say that. We always say it,” Miller said. “But yeah, that was awesome. We just kept passing it along.”
Hoskins thought the ninth-inning heroics might not have been possible without a small offensive spark in the previous inning.
“If we don’t get one in the eighth, we might not be in that situation,” Hoskins said.
A combined four scoreless innings by Juan Nicasio and Suarez stifled the Cubs offense after it had put up five runs against starting left-hander Drew Smyly. That changed the course of the game in Kapler’s eyes.
“You're really depending on guys to give you length and effectiveness,” Kapler said. “Both of those guys were excellent through a really tough Cubs lineup.”
As for Harper, it was just another day at the office.
“To be able to get into their bullpen and battle in that last inning,” Harper said. “The bottom of our order has been doing a great job the last couple weeks getting us up there. Just great at-bats all the way through and gave me an opportunity to win that game right there.”