PHILADELPHIA — Trailing by two runs with two out in the ninth, Kyle Schwarber and Garrett Stubbs leaned on the dugout railing and mused.
“If Bryson gets on here ... " Stubbs began.
“This could be it. This could be The Moment,” Schwarber finished.
And so it was. Bryson Stott singled, which brought Trea Turner to the plate. Trea Turner, who had, in his first 48 games as a Phillie, been worth about one-hundredth of his new $300 million deal. Turner on Monday evaluated his Phillies experience thus: “I’ve [stunk].”
Schwarbs knew that Turner needed a moment. It came.
“First pitch. Whack.”
He expected the 85-mph curveball from Diamondbacks reliever Jose Ruiz. And, for a change, Turner connected.
“I hadn’t done that much in the last few weeks,” Turner said, then spoke for his team as much as he spoke for himself: “Moving forward, it doesn’t matter what you did yesterday.”
Not as long as, moving forward, you keep succeeding.
Turner’s home run tied the score at 5 Wednesday afternoon. Craig Kimbrel pitched a perfect 10th, stranding the ghost runner, and Alec Bohm won it with a walk-off hit to deep right field, his second RBI single of the day, a 6-5 win that saved the Phillies’ season.
This was much more than a Moment for Turner alone. For a team that has had poor starting pitching, epic slumps from its stars, defensive misadventures, and comical baserunning blunders, this win saved the season.
“I think it was a huge win. I really do. One of the biggest wins we’ve had here in the last couple of years here, really,” said Rob Thomson, who’s been a coach or the manager since 2017. “Get down five early. It was like we were kind of dead in the water. We kept grinding. Fighting.”
The Phillies erased a 5-0 lead built on the inefficiency of Ranger Suárez, who delivered another bad start for the rotation. The Phillies got five scoreless innings from their bullpen, which has been ... unpredictable.
Most important, the Phillies averted a home sweep as they begin an 11-day, 10-game trip against NL East teams: four games beginning Thursday in Atlanta, then three at the Mets, then three in D.C.
“We all hate saying ‘must-win,’ but those are one of the ones you want to win,” Schwarber said. “Especially going into a road trip like this. Especially in that fashion, where you can get a little bit of momentum going on our side.”
If the Phillies ever needed this sort of win, it was in this Moment.
“Sometimes moments like this just springboard you into playing well. Gaining confidence,” Thomson said. “Believing in yourself.”
They could do with a dose of self-belief. As they packed for Georgia, the Phils were 23-26, 6½ games behind the Braves, two behind the Mets, and one behind the Marlins. Schwarber was hitting .170. Turner’s fifth home run of the season lifted his average all the way to .250.
“That can spark anything,” Schwarber said. “He had a plan. He executed the plan. Hit a big home run. Extended the game.”
From there, Kimbrel took over. The new pitch-clock rules forfeited him a ball against Josh Rojas, but he struck him out anyway.
“Craig gives us the opportunity where we just had to score one,” Schwarber said. “The biggest thing there is to keep them to zero. When you’re the home team, you feel like you’re playing for two.”
They were playing for their lives. They’d lost seven of nine games. But things are coming together, even apart from Wednesday’s win.
Center fielder Brandon Marsh sprinted out to a .337 start but entered the game 4-for-41 in his last 17 games, partly due to soreness in the front of his right shoulder. He saw a chiropractor and sat out Tuesday but returned Wednesday and collected two hits and two RBIs.
Aaron Nola, who starts Thursday, is 4-1 with a 3.42 ERA in his last seven starts. Stott is hitting .357 in his last 11 games. Bryce Harper’s hitting .324 with a .915 OPS since coming back from elbow surgery. Staff ace Zack Wheeler looked good in six of his 10 starts.
“Trea stepped up for us. The bullpen stopped the bleeding,” Wheeler said. “Good to get that momentum going into this road trip.”
Not just good. Absolutely crucial.
