Welcome to Phillies Town, Twinkie Town’s Philadelphia Phillies playoff coverage because I like watching Jhoan Duran play baseball and don’t handle change well. Let’s go Phillies!
One game after the Phillies’ offense stalled out in the late innings, Philadelphia reversed course by saving all their runs for the final two frames in game two. Unfortunately, they didn’t have quite enough time to mount a full comeback.
Let’s pick up the game in the seventh, since nothing of note happened until that point.
Starter Jesus Luzardo had dominated the game up to that point, retiring 15 straight Dodgers and not allowing a baserunner since the fourth inning. With the pitch count looking healthy and Philadelphia low on reliable relievers behind former Twin Jhoan Duran, Luzardo came back out for the seventh inning, facing the star-studded Dodgers lineup for a third time. Unfortunately, that dreaded third time penalty immediately showed up, with Luzardo allowing Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman to both reach, putting runners on second and third with no outs.
Manager Rob Thomson turned to Orion Kerkering, the Phillies’ second-best righty in the ‘pen, to face an impossible situation. Kerkering was able to get Tommy Edman swinging for the first out. The second man up was Enrique Hernandez, who hit a soft grounder just past the mound. Trea Turner tried to get the runner at home, but Teoscar Hernandez narrowly beat the tag to break the seal and put the Dodgers up 1-0.
Kerkering made the damage worse by walking Max Muncy to load the bases with still only one out. After getting Andy Pages to pop out, catcher Will Smith delivered the kill shot with a clutch single to left to score two more. Shohei Ohtani added one more run on an RBI single of his to give the Dodgers a four run lead on a night where the Phillies had managed only a single hit through the seventh.
The ex-Twins did their best to mount a rally in the late innings, though. Max Kepler led off the eighth with a pinch-hit, bloop triple to right. Turner drove him in, but ultimately the Phillies couldn’t manage another run in the inning. Philadelphia got the benefit of finally seeing the Dodgers’ struggling relievers in the ninth, particularly Blake Treinen. The first three batters of the ninth inning reached, highlighted by a double from Nick Castellanos on a slider well out of the zone which scored two more for the Phillies with him on second as the tying run, still with no outs.
With a slew of lefties coming up, the Dodgers pulled Treinen for left-handed Alex Vesia. Bryson Stott laid down a picture perfect bunt to try to advance Castellanos to third, but Max Muncy made the best defensive play of the postseason so far by nabbing the lead runner.
Another former Twin did his part to keep the rally alive. Harrison Bader, with a bad groin and all, delivered a pinch-hit single, putting the winning run on base still with only one out. Max Kepler had a chance to tie or win the game, but hit a soft grounder to second, as he is wont to do. Vesia was slow getting to first base, keeping Kepler from hitting into his patented game-ending GIDP. Unfortunately, NL batting champ Trea Turner also couldn’t come up with the final hit the Phillies needed, officially putting them down 2-0 and needing to win three straight games to advance.
The good news is that the Phillies have been horrendous at home over the last three postseasons and have come back from down 2-0 in the past, but they’ll need the offense to come to life facing one of the best pitchers in the NL in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It’s a tall task, but they have the talent to do it.
FORMER TWINS WATCH
- Max Kepler: 1-2, 1 3B, 1 R
- Harrison Bader: 1-1 with a clutch ninth inning hit on a bum groin
- Jhoan Duran: 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K
STUDS
- Jesus Luzardo through 6 innings: 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K
- Kepler/Bader: Key pinch hits to spark the rally
DUDS
- Jesus Luzardo in the 6th: 0 IP, 2 H, 2 R
- Orion Kerkering: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 K
- Trea Turner/Kyle Schwarber/Bryce Harper: combined 1-10, 3 BB, 5 K (now a combined 1-19, 4 BB, 9 K this postseason)
