WASHINGTON — As it drizzled outside Sunday morning, Phillies officials gathered in the visiting clubhouse for multiple meetings with representatives from the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball. Everyone agreed on the objective.
“If we’ve got a window for a couple hours,” interim manager Rob Thomson said shortly before 11:30 a.m., “then we’d go [play].”
And if they were going to wait for however long it took for that opportunity to arise, the least the Phillies could do was drench the Nationals, 8-1, in a rain-shortened, six-inning game and move to the brink of clinching the last National League wild card.
Nothing has been easy lately. The Phillies endured two five-game losing streaks in the last two weeks. But the only reason to start playing in a mist and press on through a steady rain that muddied the infield and turned parts of the warning track into a moat was because one team needed it. And it wasn’t the 104-loss Nationals.
So, the Phillies did what they had to do. They jumped on Nationals starter Patrick Corbin for one run in the second inning, then three apiece in the fourth and fifth. And when Zack Wheeler froze Víctor Robles with a fastball and waded off the mound after the fifth inning, the game was official, the Phillies led by seven runs, and the champagne bottles were being packed away for the trip to Houston.
Pending the Brewers’ outcome against the Miami Marlins, the Phillies chopped their magic number to two. That means that two victories in their season-ending three-game series in Houston — or two Brewers losses in three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks — will put the Phillies in the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
Seriously.
But there was another, less overt reason why Sunday’s game was so important. The Phillies’ best (only?) hope of advancing in the postseason hinges on Wheeler and Aaron Nola starting the first two games of a best-of-three wild-card series. So, they lined up Wheeler to start Sunday in Washington and Nola for Monday night in Houston to put them on track for Game 1 and 2 starts on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
If the Phillies and Nationals had gotten rained out, the whole thing would’ve been thrown off. Wheeler would’ve had to pitch Monday night in Houston and then not again until Game 2. Nola? Who knows?
No need to worry about that now. Wheeler always works quickly, but with the rain picking up, he stepped on the gas. He retired three batters on 14 pitches in the first inning, then struck out the side on 15 pitches in the second.
The Nationals ran themselves out of the third inning. With two on and nobody out, Robles got caught stealing by J.T. Realmuto after Wheeler struck out Riley Adams. Wheeler got Lane Thomas to ground out to hold the Phillies’ 1-0 lead.
In all, Wheeler gave up two hits and struck out seven in five scoreless, walk-free innings. He threw 77 pitches and probably could’ve continued. But with a wet mound and a playoff start beckoning, there wasn’t any reason to chance it, especially after Bryson Stott’s two-run double and an RBI single by Bryce Harper stretched the margin to 4-0 in the fourth inning.
The Phillies can afford to look ahead now. They probably should. They dodged rain for three days, shook off a 13-4 throttling in the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader, took advantage of getting to play the Nationals, and benefited from two Marlins victories over the Brewers.
It’s all there for them now.
“A lot of people aren’t in this position that we’re in right now,” Kyle Schwarber said Saturday night. “A lot of people are making their offseason plans right now, and we’re trying to make sure we’re not doing that.”
Make way for Vierling
The bottom three hitters in the Phillies’ order did the most damage against Corbin. Jean Segura, Matt Vierling, and Stott combined to go 6-for-8 with five runs and three RBIs.
For Vierling, it marked a continuation from Saturday night when he stepped in for right fielder Nick Castellanos and tripled and homered in an 8-2 victory in the nightcap of a doubleheader that may have rescued the season.
If Vierling continues to swing a hot bat, it’s possible he could get into the lineup in a wild-card series, especially against the St. Louis Cardinals. As a right-handed hitter, Vierling, a St. Louis native, could get time in center field against Cardinals lefties Jordan Montgomery and José Quintana.
“He’s really had good at-bats lately,” Thomson said. “He’s squaring up balls. He’s played well.”
Schwarber sets tone
Schwarber has emerged as the Phillies’ leader in the clubhouse. But at a time when the Phillies have needed their stars to shine on the field, he has delivered big hits.
After swatting two homers Saturday night, including a second-deck shot to right field to open the game, Schwarber splashed a single to left field to drive in Bohm, Segura, and Stott in the fifth inning and open a 7-0 lead against Corbin, who became the majors’ first 19-game loser since Chris Archer and James Shields in 2016.
