Edmundo Sosa ignites Phillies’ eighth inning rally in 6-3 win over the Athletics
With the Phillies trailing 3-2 in the eighth, Sosa hit a two-run single with the bases loaded to put them ahead for good.
In his ninth game on the job as third base coach of the Phillies, Anthony Contreras never hesitated to wave in the go-ahead run.
Just in case, Edmundo Sosa windmilled his arm anyway.
With the Phillies trailing by a run and the bases loaded in the eighth inning Wednesday night, Sosa fouled off four two-strike pitches before scorching a single up the middle. Kyle Schwarber scored easily, and there was no chance Bryce Harper was stopping around third.
Sosa flexed, and the Phillies rejoiced after taking a lead in an eventual 6-3 comeback win against the Athletics that pushed their record to 8-1 under interim manager Don Mattingly and 17-20 overall after a 9-19 start.
» READ MORE: Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz grew up a Phillies fan — and has a family cat named after Bryce Harper
The Phillies also broke a 10-game losing streak against non-opener left-handed starting pitchers, although their four-run eighth-inning rally came against reliever Jack Perkins, a righty.
Sosa waged a seven-pitch duel with Perkins after the Phillies filled the bases on Schwarber’s leadoff walk, a throwing error by A’s second baseman Jeff McNeil on a potential force play, and a hard single by Adolis García.
Perkins got ahead in the count, 0-and-2, against Sosa, a free-swinger who got a piece of a sweeper, a fastball, and two more sweepers. Two of the pitches were high and inside, but Sosa let it fly anyway.
At last, Sosa got an elevated fastball and shot it back through the middle.
Brad Keller made it interesting in the ninth inning by loading the bases with two out. But he broke Jacob Wilson’s bat with a 97-mph sinker and got a tapper back to the mound.
The Phillies’ revival under Mattingly is being led by starting pitching, and Zack Wheeler did his part despite leaving with a 3-2 deficit.
Making his third start since coming back from thoracic outlet syndrome but his first at home, Wheeler got a warm ovation from the 36,474 paying customers as he warmed up. He also moved closer to his presurgery fastball velocity, sitting at 94-95 mph and peaking at 96.5.
But the A’s jumped to a lead in the third inning on a leadoff walk, a check-swing bloop single with two out, and a nifty slide. García’s strong throw from right field beat Lawrence Butler to the plate, but Butler slipped his right hand underneath J.T. Realmuto’s mitt and touched home plate ahead of the tag.
The A’s were aggressive on the bases again to score another two-out run from second base on a single off Wheeler in the fifth inning. Zack Gelof punched a two-out double and slid home ahead of García’s throw on Nick Kurtz’s single to right field.
» READ MORE: Tim Mayza’s ‘The Sheriff’ nickname an example of the ‘tight-knit’ group of Phillies relievers
A’s lefty starter Jeffrey Springs was set to join the list of lefties who have flummoxed the Phillies. But García launched a one-out homer to center field in the sixth inning to slice the deficit to one run.
Springs gave up eight hits but left with the lead. The Phillies are batting .171 (39-for-228) and slugging .276 against non-opener lefty starters.
Mattingly convened a meeting early in the day with his coaches and team officials from various departments to review areas in which the Phillies can get better. Surely, hitting left-handed starters was surely on the agenda.
“No,” Mattingly said. “It wasn’t one of the things that we talked about today.”
Maybe next time.
Meanwhile, the Phillies keep winning.
Hunter Pence's 368-day stint with the Phillies was a study in extremes. Acquired at the trade deadline in 2011 as the missing right-handed bat for a World Series contender, he got dealt a year later by an underachieving team. And with the Phillies in full-on crisis mode this week, Pence sits down with "Phillies Extra," the Inquirer's baseball podcast, to discuss how quickly a team's fortunes can change. Watch here.
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Previous episodes: Paco Figueroa | Gage Wood | Scott Boras | Brian Barber | Aaron Nola | Justin Crawford | Garrett Stubbs | Kyle Schwarber | Brad Keller | J.T.Realmuto
