MILWAUKEE — Just when you thought the Phillies had run out of ninth-inning magic, or that they left Rob Thomson’s pixie dust at home, they recorded their most improbable victory of the season against the most unhittable closer in baseball.
Down to their last three outs Tuesday night, trailing by one run after leaving a small army of runners on base, and facing Milwaukee Brewers closer Josh Hader, the Phillies were powered by solo home runs from Alec Bohm and just-promoted Matt Vierling, then held on as struggling closer Corey Knebel white-knuckled his way through the bottom of the ninth in a 3-2 victory in the opener of a three-game series at American Family Field.
Make it five consecutive victories, the last four coming after president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski fired Joe Girardi and replaced him with Thomson. It’s the Phillies’ longest winning streak of the season. Thomson is also the first Phillies manager to go 4-0 in his first four games since Dallas Green, who took over for Danny Ozark midway through the 1979 season.
