The Phillies are on the board! In Game 2 of a 3-game set in New York, the Phillies are the last team in Major League Baseball to win a game.
With a 4-1 win over the Yankees, the Phillies improve to 1-4 in the young season. Fans can take a deep breath as the nightmare scenario of going 0-6 into the home opener has come to an end.
Starting off with a BANG!
Kyle Schwarber is a notoriously slow starter at the beginning of the season. After only getting one hit in the Rangers series, Schwarbs had another rough day at the plate on Monday night. The Phillies left fielder just needed to get into a groove, and he found that groove tonight.
Schwarber would give the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first, and they did not look back.
Marsh bounces back!
Brandon Marsh had a rough game Monday night. Between a misplay in center field and a really bad base running mistake, he was only of the reasons for the 8-1 loss.
Marsh did not let that keep him down however. In his first plate appearance, Brandon gave the Phillies a little insurance with his first home run of the season!
Hitting with Runners in Scoring Position
Trea Turner has been everything the Phillies could have hoped for. Turner has gotten a hit in all five ballgames to start his Phillies career and had another huge at-bat in this one.
With runners at first and second and two outs, Turner poked a ball to right field, driving in Brandon Marsh to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead.
The next batter was Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber would rip a ball into the open space between the first and second basemen, scoring Garrett Stubbs and giving the Phillies what would be their final run of the game.
Pitching Delivers
Matt Strahm was signed to be the Phillies’ go-to middle innings reliever. Matt was a former starter in San Diego who then became a reliever. He was brought to Philly to come out of the ‘pen, but he stepped up tonight when the team asked for him to give them a start.
Strahm went 4 innings, allowing just 1 hit and striking out 3 batters in his first start as a Phillie. He was really impressive and had the best start of any Phillies starter through one time around the rotation.
Bullpen does the job
The Phils’ bullpen showed up in this game as well.
Andrew Bellatti gave the Phillies another great appearance in the 5th, now pitching in 4 of the 5 games this season. He was followed by Jose Alvarado, who has become my favorite Philly to watch. His stuff is absolutely untouchable, and he made the Yankees look silly, including AL MVP Aaron Judge.
Conor Brogdon was my pick to be the Phillies’ MVP in Spring Training. After a rough 2023 debut, he has looked really solid over his last two appearances. Tonight, Rob Thomson gave him the ball for the 7th and 8th innings. He not only delivered but helped ice this game for the Phillies.
Finally, Craig Kimbrel would come in for the ninth.
He did allow a solo home run to DJ LaMahieu, walked Aaron Judge, and let up a single to Giancarlo Stanton. Despite the traffic on the bases, the former All-Star would get the game over and shut down the Yankees for the first win of the season.
Matt’s MVP of the Game
My MVP of this one has to be Kyle Schwarber. Schwarbs went 2-5 with a home run, 2 RBIs, and a run scored in tonight’s victory.
Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire
