Any victory would’ve clinched a bye to the National League Divisional Series for the Phillies, and as such they would’ve been happy with an ugly, scrappy victory. It didn’t need to be a glamorous one.
But thanks to Edmundo Sosa and the four other Phillies who hit gopher balls tonight, it was.
It didn’t start out with fireworks, but rather with a slow-paced duel between batter and pitcher. Otto Lopez proved a worthy opponent for Jesús Luzardo, fighting him across nine pitches. But he did not prove to be Luzardo’s better, eventually succumbing to a foul tip strikeout, as did Heriberto Hernández for the final out of the inning. In between was Augustín Ramírez, who also struck out, though not on a foul tip.
With the weather having cleared up, the Phillies got to work on Weathers (Ryan, to be precise). Kyle Schwarber doubled when right fielder Joey Weimer leapt for a line drive and missed it. Alec Bohm hit a grounder for what ought to have been an easy out, but a bad throw from Lopez pulled the first baseman off his perch, and the Phillies had runners on the corners. The Marlins made no more mistakes in the inning, and thus the Phillies did not score.
Bohm, balancing the cosmic scales, made an error in the top of the second, yanking a throw just past Otto Kemp’s outstretched glove at first, and putting a Connor Norby on second with none out. A liner from Eric Wagaman scored him, giving the Miamis a a 1-0 lead.
The Phillies tied it up in the bottom third on—what else— a Kyle Schwarber homer, which sailed majestically to center field, whereupon a Marlin, leaping into the air like their namesake springs from the water, just failed to grab it. But not even the most majestic Marlin could leap high enough to make a play on Edmundo Sosa’s homer in the next inning, flying high over Monty’s Angle. Or on Bryson Stott’s solo shot to make the score 3-1 in the same inning.
Now, Sosa did make an error in top of the fifth, charging in on a grounder from Jakob Marsee and throwing the ball too hard, putting it past Kemp. But he can be forgiven, not only because this was his first game back from injury, and not only because of the lingering good will from his homer, but because Marsee was immediately put out trying to steal third. And also because Sosa hit a three-run homer in the fifth, following a double from Bohm and a walk from Kemp.
We missed you, Edmundo.
Also hitting a second homer on the night was Schwarber, who drove a poorly placed fastball 468 feet for his 56th of the year. Bohm, feeling somewhat left out, decided to join the party with a solo shot of his own. It didn’t fly as far or as impressively as Schwarber’s, but it was welcomed nevertheless; every Phillies homer is beloved to us. And as an example of this, Otto Kemp’s shot to left field, scoring two, was lovely and cherished in its own way.
They’re not necessarily cherished equally, though. The next home run wasn’t an especially pretty one. It just barely cleared the wall in left field, and it was assessed for potential fan interference before the umpires deemed it to be a proper round-tripper. But was Sosa’s third of the night, and so it was perhaps the most beautiful, surpassing even Schwarber’s lengthy moonshot for memorability.
We missed you, Edmundo.
Jesus Luzardo’s night ended after seven successful innings, with Tim Mayza called in to take the eighth (speaking of eighth, Sosa’s third homer was the Phillies’ eighth of the night, setting a franchise record). Mayza allowed a hit, but no runs, with a double play and a great leaping catch from Bohm extinguishing any embers of hope that the thoroughly cooked Fish may have held on to.
They didn’t even get to hold on to their dignity: The Marlins had to endure the embarrassment of watching an easy fly ball, in this case courtesy of Kyle Schwarber, land on the grass as the outfielders, perhaps dazed by all of the fireworks, lost track of who was supposed to take it.
Max Lazar was tasked with formally ending a contest that had been over for some time. He allowed a single and tossed a wild pitch, but there was little tension or drama in these minor mistakes. The game ended on a easy fly ball to Brandon Marsh in left.
With that, Sosa etched his name in Philadelphia lore, Kyle Schwarber inched closer to Ryan Howard’s single season home run record, and the Phillies clinched a bye in thoroughly memorable fashion. Welcome back, Edmundo. Don’t leave us again.
The Phillies, winners of this contest by an 11-1 score, are 93-65. They’ll finish the series tomorrow at 6:05.
