PHILADELPHIA— After a gorgeous Friday night at the park, the weather turned from hot to cold. So did the Phillies offense.
After four straight games with 10 or more hits, the Phils’ offense cooled down on Saturday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite the offense not lighting up the scoreboard, they made their hits count. A Max Kepler solo home run in the bottom of the 8th ended up being the difference as the Phillies took home their third straight win, 3-2.
Cristopher Sanchez delivers
It has become an expectation that when Cristophez Sanchez takes the mound, excellence will follow.
Sanchez was excellent again on Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Facing Toronto for the second time this season, he was able to build off his performance in their first matchup. Keeping the Jays’ hitters off-balance, Sanchez notched 7 swings and misses for the afternoon.
[He] attacked the zone; he was fantastic. He had close to 70% strikes; his fastball command was great, movment on the fastball was great. Change-up was [great], didn’t throw many sliders becayse there werent many lefties, or any lefties in the lineup… He was phenomenal today. – Rob Thomson
Sanchez was on the receiving end of some poor defensive results. While these two players were not automatic, they were plays that better defensive teams come up with. The first being a double to right field by Ernie Clement. Clement’s expected average on the ball was .190, but Nick Castellanos was unable to come up with it against the fence. Clement would then score on a single to left field by Myles Straw.
Later in the game, the Phillies could not turn a double play on a ground ball to shortstop Trea Turner. Turner’s feed to Bryson Stott came in a little high, and the split-second difference resulted in Bo Bichette beating the throw to first. That would have ended the inning, but instead, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would make his presence known, doubling in Bichette.
Overall, another quality start from Sanchez helped give his team a chance to win the ballgame. His final line: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. He threw 98 pitches, 68 for strikes.
All tied up
When the Phillies first faced Bowden Francis in Toronto, the offense exploded. Striking for seven runs in the first two innings of that game, the Phillies would cruise to victory north of the border. For Francis, his start on Saturday afternoon offered him a chance to redeem himself.
Francis took that opportunity and ran with it to start the game. Allowing just one hit in the first three innings, he retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced. With two outs in the fourth, Francis would walk Castellanos to extend the inning. He would then walk Kepler to put runners at first and second. J.T. Realmuto would get hit by a pitch to load the bases, and then a Bryson Stott walk would give the Phillies their first run of the game.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Otto Kemp dug in. “Otto” chants rang throughout Citizens Bank Park as many hoped to see the rookie make a dent in the score. Instead, Francis would throw up and in, hitting Kemp and putting the fifth straight runner on base. That would end his afternoon, and Brandon Little of Bryn Mawr, PA, would enter the game.
Down in the count 0-2, Marsh would dig in. However, a ball would hit the dirt and kick away from catcher Tyler Heineman. Realmuto would try and steal home on the play but was tagged out by a diving Heineman to end the inning.
Postgame, I asked Rob Thomson if he liked Realmuto’s aggressiveness in that spot. “I did, I did, you know you have two strikes left on left. He was looking for the ball in the dirt, actually, and he got it. Catcher made a heck of a play.”
Phillies win close
After the Blue Jays tied the game in the top of the fifth inning, traffic on the bases became more sparse. Both pitching staffs were doing an excellent job at keeping the opposing offenses honest. All signs were pointing to a late-inning battle.
After Sanchez went seven strong for the Phillies, manager Rob Thomson went to Orion Kerkering to face the top of the Toronto offense in the 8th. Kerkering had an easy inning, sitting down the side in order. Kerkering has allowed just one earned run in his past 16 appearances.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Kepler crushed a ball deep into the right field stands to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead. Kepler’s eighth home run of the year was a big one and a sign that he is starting to swing a hot bat. After a few hard hit-outs on Friday night, he came through with a double late in the game. Carrying that hot swing into Saturday, Kepler reached base three times on the day.
On Kepler, Thomson said postgame, “He’s starting to get the ball up in the air, it’s a good thing, he’s got a lot of power, he can hit the ball out the other way too. It was a big hit for us.”
It was Kepler’s fifth career go-ahead home run in the 8th inning or later in his career.
In the top of the ninth, Thomson would send Matt Strahm to the mound to try and close out the ballgame. With three right-handers due up, it was an interesting decision for Thomson to use Strahm over Jordan Romano in this spot.
On the move, Thomson mentioned, “To keep their lefties on the bench, they would have pinch-hit after they got through Springer; there was a chance…”
The move paid off, and Strahm shut down Toronto’s offense 1-2-3, winning another series at Citizens Bank Park. They go for the sweep on Sunday with Zack Wheeler on the mound.
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
