PHILADELPHIA — The pivotal moments of Sunday’s 7-6 Phillies win over the Padres came down to defense. In the 11th, with a runner on third, Trea Turner made a leaping grab to rob Gary Sanchez of the go-ahead hit. Later in the same inning, Sanchez made a fantastic defensive play to rob the Phillies of a potential run right back. With no outs, Brandon Marsh hit a bunt and Sanchez, who lost his balance while fielding it, threw it over to Manny Machado in time to tag Bryson Stott out at third. Alec Bohm singled to put runners on second and first, but Nick Castellanos grounded into a double play to end the inning.
It’s not difficult to imagine how the game would’ve gone differently had one of those plays not been made. But they were made, and the game was sent into the 12th.
Reliever Jeff Hoffman gave the Phillies his outing of the season thus far, pitching two innings — in the 11th and 12th — with a runner on base without allowing a hit, a run or a walk. In the 12th, Johan Rojas hit a sacrifice bunt to move ghost runner Edmundo Sosa to third base, and Kyle Schwarber hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Sosa and win the game.
The Phillies are now nine games above .500, which ties their season-high. After sweeping the doubleheader on Saturday, they have a three-game winning streak.
Hader gets an opportunity to face Harper
The last time Josh Hader had the opportunity to face Bryce Harper was in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. With his team trailing 3-2, Harper stepped up to the plate. Padres manager Bob Melvin decided to stick with reliever Robert Suarez, and Harper hit a go-ahead home run that will go down as one of the most iconic moments in Phillies’ history.
Hader finally had his chance to face Harper in the tenth inning on Sunday afternoon and Harper made the most of it. With two outs, he hit a line drive single to center field to score ghost runner Johan Rojas and tie the game, 6-6. Unlike Game 5 of the NLCS, though, it wasn’t enough to give the Phillies the win. Stott flied out to end the inning and send it to the 11th.
Bullpen with its first blown save since June 14
It had been a while since the Phillies last blew a save. The last time it happened was over a month ago, on June 14, when Seranthony Dominguez gave up three earned runs to the Diamondbacks in 2/3 of an inning. And even then the Phillies got the win on the strength of their bullpen. Gregory Soto, Craig Kimbrel and Jose Alvarado allowed just one hit over the next two 1/3 innings.
They haven’t had this kind of bullpen depth in a while. Depending on your evaluation, the Phillies have three or four relievers who could be closers on other teams. It’s why they were able to weather the injuries of José Alvarado and Seranthony Domínguez earlier in the season. But weathering the absences of both Alvarado and Dominguez, at the same time, has proven to be challenging.
The Phillies have a 6.92 bullpen ERA since July 9, the day Alvarado was placed on the injured list with left elbow inflammation for the second time this season. It isn’t a big sample size — only 13 innings because of the All-Star break — but it is notable, nonetheless. That fallibility was on display on Sunday afternoon. After managing just one hit through their first four innings, the Phillies climbed back. Bryson Stott hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, and the Phillies put up four runs in the sixth.
They could have done more. With the bases loaded and one out, Darick Hall struck out and Rojas, facing the Padres for the second time that inning, struck out, again, thanks in part to an erroneous strike three call by home plate umpire Brock Ballou. But by the end of the inning, the Phillies had a 5-3 lead, which should have been enough for a win.
Instead, Gregory Soto allowed a double and two walks to load the bases with two outs for Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis hit a two-RBI single to tie the game, 5-5. It was Soto’s first blown save of the season.
Neither team scored in the bottom half of the eighth, or the ninth, sending the game into extra innings. Ballou — who was making poor calls on both ends — hurt the Phillies again with a few erroneous calls in Hall’s at-bat. Instead of drawing a walk, Hall was called out on strikes.
The game went into extra innings. With the extra runner on second, Matt Strahm allowed one run in the tenth.
Solid outing for Wheeler
It was not Wheeler’s best day — and certainly not the type of performance that fans have come to expect from him — but he did his job. Wheeler pitched seven innings, allowing five hits, three runs (all earned), and no walks with seven strikeouts and two home runs.
The pitches that did leave the park didn’t seem to be misplaced. Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim hit a home run off Wheeler in the first inning, off of a slider that below the zone. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts hit a home run in the fourth off a curveball that, like the pitch to Kim, was low.
But despite that, the Padres were hitting Wheeler hard. Of the five hits Wheeler allowed, four came off the bat at 95 mph or harder, according to Baseball Savant.
