The Phillies exhale in avoiding disaster to clinch a playoff spot in Game 162
Zack Wheeler pitched six strong innings, and the big bats woke to lead the Phillies to their fifth straight postseason berth. Next up: The Braves in the wild-card round.
On a clear June evening in Washington D.C. earlier this year, the Phillies were down to their final strike of the game. Improbably, unbelievably, they pulled off an eight-run comeback anyway. A night later, they did it again, needing only two runs that time.
On an August night in Anaheim, there were two outs in the ninth when Edmundo Sosa hit a go-ahead grand slam.
The Phillies have failed many times this year. There have been cold spells, blown leads, perplexing errors, and losing streaks, though none more humiliating than the four straight they lost this week. But they have also pulled off the unlikely. And so perhaps it was fitting that in the 11th hour of their season, in Game 162, the offense at last woke from its slumber.
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In Sunday’s 7-3 win over the Rays, with big-game pitcher Zack Wheeler on the mound, the Phillies finally finished the task. In the final game of the regular season, with rain pouring the entire time, they secured the last National League wild-card spot. They will now head to Atlanta for the series that begins on Tuesday.
Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa each homered, after the offense had gone 47 consecutive innings without one. The Phillies did the little things, too: stole bases, moved runners with a sacrifice bunt, scored with sacrifice flies. In the end, they had 12 hits, and eight of nine starters reached base at least once. They only struck out five times.
J.T. Realmuto had one of the biggest swings after interim manager Don Mattingly dropped the catcher to ninth in the order for the first time in his career. As his slump reached 0-for-34 in the Phillies’ embarrassing 12-1 loss on Saturday, Realmuto said plainly that he had been letting his teammates down.
He didn’t let it go any further. In the second inning, with Sosa on second after hitting his own double, Realmuto hit a line drive to left field. Sure, it was misread by Victor Mesa Jr., who got turned around, but at 110.5 mph off the bat it was a solid piece of contact, and it gave the Phillies an early 2-0 lead.
Trea Turner advanced him to third with a single, before Kyle Schwarber ripped a 116.8 mph laser off the right-field wall to score two. As he got to second base standing up, Schwarber turned back to his dugout and let out a roar and a fist pump, in a rare display of intense emotion from the 33-year-old.
How the Phillies will line up their pitching against the Braves for the wild-card series remains to be seen. The collapse of the last week still casts a long shadow, as they had to burn Wheeler to extend their season beyond Sunday. The right-hander rose to the occasion in his biggest start of the year, holding the Rays to one run over six innings and 97 pitches to give his offense time to work.
Wheeler struck out the side in the first inning, one swinging and two looking, to set the tone. He worked around traffic, allowing five hits, but struck out five and didn’t walk a batter. He also took matters into his own hands defensively on occasion, catching a pop fly and fielding a grounder, too.
The 36-year-old finished his comeback regular season with a 3.00 ERA in 162 innings. A year ago, there were external questions about whether Wheeler would ever be himself again on the mound after undergoing thoracic outlet decompression surgery. But he never doubted it.
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Alex McFarlane gave up two runs in the seventh on Jonny DeLuca’s second homer of the day and a ground-rule double followed by a hard-hit single off Alec Bohm’s glove at first.
Jesús Luzardo pitched the eighth, facing hitters for the first time since hitting the injured list with shoulder stiffness. He needed just four pitches to retire the side.
Then, he passed the baton in the ninth to closer Jhoan Duran, who struck out Cedric Mullins and Nick Fortes to send the Phillies to the playoffs for the fifth straight year.
Let's talk about the Phillies' bullpen. Larry Andersen happens to be an expert on the subject. The popular Phillies radio analyst had a 17-year major-league career in which he appeared in 699 games – all but one in relief. He joins Phillies Extra to break down the biggest question standing between the Phillies and a long run through October: How will they bridge the gap to closer Jhoan Duran? Watch here.
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