PHILADELPHIA — With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Bryce Harper stepped up to the plate. It was a pivotal moment in the Phillies’ eventual 9-7 win: the bases were loaded, the Phillies were down 6-2, and Harper had a chance to tie it up.
This is not a team that has excelled with runners in scoring position this season. But as Harper battled his way through an at-bat with Angels reliever Raisel Iglesias, a grand slam felt like an inevitability. And on the seventh pitch, a changeup right in the middle of the plate, Harper delivered, crushing a ball 426 feet to the second deck of the right field stands for his 13th moonshot of the season.
Harper threw his fist in the air. As he skipped to first base, he let out a yell and motioned towards his teammates in the dugout. On his way second base, he threw his fist in the air again. It almost seemed to be a cathartic moment; for weeks, the Phillies have hit balls that seemed like sure-home runs that have fallen just short. They’ve lost extra-inning games. They’ve been able to start rallies, but have had trouble completing them.
But in this moment, things went right. Harper’s ball wasn’t caught for an out — it landed in the right field seats. Closer Corey Knebel allowed an RBI single in the top of the ninth, but even then, it felt like the chips were going to fall the Phillies’ way. And they did.
In the bottom of the ninth, Alec Bohm knocked in a single. Didi Gregorius, fresh off of a rehab assignment, knocked in a single of own to put runners on first and second with two outs. And then Bryson Stott stepped up to the plate, had a terrific at-bat, and on a 3-2 count hit a three-run walkout home run to give his team their fourth straight win.
Bohm breaks hitless streak
After going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Saturday, and smashing a bat rack in frustration, Bohm had a better game on Sunday. He went 3-for-4 with a walk, and made a nice defensive play in the top of the eighth to save the Angels from scoring an extra run.
Return of the infield defensive blunders
For the most part, the Phillies infield has looked more solid defensively than it has in recent seasons, thanks to infield coach Bobby Dickerson, but Sunday was an ugly day. They committed two errors, thanks to a throwing error by Rhys Hoskins in the fourth inning and a fielding error by Bryson Stott. Stott’s error was particularly frustrating, because it was coming off of a fantastic play in the previous at-bat. On that play, Stott moved to his right to nab a hard hit Mike Trout grounder to throw Trout out at first. On the next play, he allowed a ground ball through his legs. Baseball can be cruel.
Kyle Gibson cruises, then hits a snag in the fourth inning
Gibson has had a strong 2022 season, but for whatever reason, he has struggled to get past the fourth inning. Over 10 outings, he has an 8.38 ERA in the fourth inning. Batters hit him .188 the first through the order, and .356 the second time through.
Those struggles re-emerged on Sunday. Gibson cruised through his first three innings, allowing just a walk and a single. In the fourth inning, he quickly allowed two hits and a walk to the load the bases for Jared Walsh, who drove in a run with an RBI single. The Angels piled on four more runs, and Gibson exited the game without recording an out.
He entered Sunday’s game with a 3.83 ERA and exited with a 4.40 ERA for the season.
Phillies’ plate discipline seems to be improving — with one glaring exception
The Phillies drew 16 walks through their three-game series with the Angels, an indication that perhaps they are the seeing the ball better than they had been. There is still work to be done. Per Fangraphs, the Phillies, entering Sunday’s game, had four hitters with at least 90 plate appearances who are swinging at pitches outside of the zone at a rate above league average (37.2%): Odúbel Herrera (42.9%), Nick Castellanos (42.0%), Bryce Harper (40.7%) and Jean Segura (37.3%).
Earlier this season, Herrera swung at a pitch that went in-between his legs. A few games later, he swung at a pitch in the dirt. On Sunday, in the bottom of the fourth inning with two strikes, he swung at a pitch that landed almost exactly where a pitch earlier in the at-bat had been called a ball. Herrera did draw a walk in his next at-bat, but the pitches were so far out of the zone that it would have been egregious for Herrera not to have drawn a walk.
Herrera said earlier in the season that plate discipline is something he’s been working on with his hitting coach, but the Phillies have yet to see big results from that work.
“There are going to be days that I’m going to swing at bad pitches, I’m not perfect,” Herrera said through a translator in late May. “But I’m working at it and I’m trying to get better.”
