When the Phillies have won this season, it’s largely been on the back of their pitching staff. But on Friday night, it was the offense that carried the way, as they overcame a shaky start by Jesus Luzardo to top the White Sox 8-6.
Luzardo’s off night began with two outs in the second. He hit a batter, then gave up a run scoring double to Luisangel Acuna and a run scoring single to Tristan Peters to put the Phillies in a 2-0 hole.
The deficit didn’t last long. In the bottom of the inning, J.T. Realmuto
led off with a walk, and then Brandon Marsh did something he hasn’t done as a member of the Phillies: Hit a home run off a lefthanded pitcher.
The score was tied at two, but the Phillies weren’t done for the inning. Singles by Adolis Garcia and Kyle Schwarber put runners on the corners. Trea Turner hit a ball to first base, but Garcia was able to beat the throw home to make it 3-2.
Next, Alec Bohm hit a double to left to score both Schwarber and Turner before getting tagged out attempting to advance to third.
Unfortunately, Randal Grichuk immediately got one of those runs back when he led off the third with a home run.
Adolis Garcia extended the lead to 6-3 with his second home run in two games. Unfortunately, Luzardo once again almost immediately gave a run back thanks to Grichuk’s second home run of the night.
Luzardo stayed in the game for the sixth, and that might have been a mistake since he gave up another solo home run, this time off the bat of Derek Hill cut the lead to 6-5.
Jonathan Bowlan took over from Luzardo in the seventh, and his night started on a bad note when he allowed an infield single, compounded by a throwing error. That proved costly three batters later when Bowlan gave up a game-tying single to Colson Montgomery.
Six runs can sometimes feel like a series’ worth of output from the Phillies’ offense, but they didn’t stop there. They loaded the bases against Sox reliever Bryan Hudson in the seventh, but after an Alec Bohm line out and a run-scoring Edmundo Sosa sacrifice fly, it felt like they might waste a chance to give themselves a nice cushion.
But former Phillie Seranthony Dominguez was brought in to finish off the inning, and with two strikes he uncorked a wild pitch that gave the Phillies an insurance run.
Brad Keller handled the eighth for the Phillies and immediately found himself in trouble thanks to a leadoff single followed by a fielding error by Bryce Harper. But Keller caught a break when Rikuu Nishida lined a ball right at him, and he was able to double the runner off second.
Keller finished the inning without incident, and it was up to Jhoan Duran to close things out. Two strikeouts and a nice play by Bryson Stott later, and the Phillies were victorious.
They’ll be back at it tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the bats will continue to look lively, and maybe the pitching staff – Andrew Painter gets the start – can perform well at the same time!
