Weston Wilson, Johan Rojas deliver clutch hits in Phillies’ come-from-behind victory over Braves

ATLANTA — It has been almost a month since Bryce Harper stood up in the Phillies’ clubhouse and, with the team’s trade-deadline shopping all but completed, issued a declaration.

“[The] superstars got to show up,” he said.

Well? Everyone’s waiting.

» READ MORE: ‘I already did it:’ Bryce Harper shrugs off apparent stare from Braves’ Orlando Arcia after home run

Harper, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, and others in owner John Middleton’s collection of high-priced stars have not yet kicked it into gear since the All-Star break. It isn’t a coincidence that the Phillies lost 20 of 32 games entering Wednesday night.

But when they needed a pick-me-up, the bottom of the order delivered.

Edmundo Sosa, Johan Rojas, and Weston Wilson notched big hits before pinch-hitting Brandon Marsh lifted a tie-breaking sacrifice fly — and Carlos Estévez walked a ninth-inning tightrope, with help from Harper — to fuel a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Braves at Truist Park.

Just like they drew it up, right?

“Big win,” Harper said after the Phillies (74-52) reclaimed a seven-game division lead over the Braves and at least kept pace with the Brewers for the second-best record in the league. “That’s what we’ve got to do to win games like that. Got to play baseball. Situational stuff like that — getting ‘em over, getting ‘em in, letting our bullpen close it out. Just a really good, hard-fought win right there.”

Trailing 2-0 on a homer by Orlando Arcia — and a noticeable stare at Harper as Arcia rounded first base — and unable to muster offense through the first 14 innings of the series, the Phillies finally rallied in the sixth against Braves ace lefty Max Fried.

And the spark came from unlikely sources.

It started with Sosa, who slashed a leadoff single. Rojas followed with a double to bring up the struggling top of the order. Sosa scored on a groundout by Kyle Schwarber before Rojas beat left fielder Jarred Kelenic’s airmailed throw to the plate on Turner’s sacrifice fly.

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper is right. This is a big series for the Phillies, not just the Braves. History shows why.

“We manufactured all three of our runs,” manager Rob Thomson said. “It was great. That’s how you win a playoff game.”

Wilson got a start in place of Marsh against a left-hander, but Thomson stuck with him in the eighth inning even though the Braves brought in righty reliever Joe Jiménez. And like he has done ever since returning from triple A, Wilson provided a spark with a leadoff double, went to third on Bryson Stott’s fly out, then scored when Marsh put the ball in play to deep left field.

In 17 games (10 starts) since being recalled, Wilson is 17-for-43 (.395) with three doubles, one triple, and three homers.

It’s unclear how Wilson will fit into the Phillies’ outfield picture once Austin Hays returns over the weekend from a hamstring strain. But Thomson said Wilson’s “at-bats are so good, it’s hard to deny him” playing time. He was considering starting him again Thursday night, even though the Braves are starting a righty.

“Just going about it the same way I did in triple A,” Wilson said of thriving despite irregular playing time. “Learned how to come off the bench. It might still be a role, who knows? Just preparing the same way every day, getting my work done, and getting ready for whenever my name’s called.”

Nobody needed Wilson to step up more than the Phillies’ biggest names. Since Harper’s challenge to the superstars on July 28, here are some of the numbers:

» READ MORE: Austin Hays expected to reclaim Phillies’ primary left field job as he nears his return from injury

Surely, the Phillies will need more from those players if they’re going to make another deep postseason run.

“It’s certainly important,” Thomson said. “But I have full confidence that they will [bounce back]. The guys at the top of the lineup are really important. But when they don’t go, the other guys have got to play, too.”

The Phillies picked up where they left off Monday night, when they went hitless in their last 17 at-bats and recorded five hits overall. Through five innings against Fried, only three batters reached base, none getting as far as second. Schwarber, Turner, and Harper were a combined 1-for-6, an extension of their 0-for-12, seven-strikeout famine in the opener.

Oh, and the Phillies trailed 2-0 after Arcia drove a hanging Aaron Nola sinker into the first few rows in left field.

Nola labored through 5⅓ innings before turning it over to the bullpen. Jeff Hoffman got a rally-killing double play to get Nola out of the sixth and set up the tying rally against Fried.

Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering tossed scoreless innings, and after the Phillies took the lead, Estévez put the tying run on third base and the winning run on second. Whit Merrifield hit a spinner down the line that Harper knocked down before tagging first base.

“I didn’t want to get Buckner’d, for sure,” Harper said, referring to Bill Buckner’s infamous misplay in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. “That was the big thing. Just trying to smother the best I could. Obviously, Whit wants to get a big hit right there in that situation. Big win.”