Phillies Sweep Snakes Out of the Desert
9. 6. Final. 8. 8
The Philadelphia Phillies rallied to defeat the host Arizona Diamondbacks to earn a sweep of their series at Chase Field in Phoenix.
The Phillies rallied late to take a lead against the host Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, lost that lead, then scored in extra innings to gain a 9-8 victory and earn a series sweep of the Snakes.
Starting pitcher Zach Eflin turned in a solid effort, despite the high score. Eflin allowed six hits and three earned runs, his second straight Quality Start and third straight solid outing. He struck out three and walked no one.
However, it would take a parade of Phillies relievers to get manager Pete Mackanin through this one, which would ultimately last ten innings.
Severino Gonzalez was completely ineffective, allowing two runs on two hits without recording an out. Then in just 1/3 of an inning, rookie Edubray Ramos allowed a run on two hits. Former starter Adam Morgan got the team through that rough 7th inning, but at that point the host Dbacks had opened a 7-4 lead.
The Phillies had broken on top in the top of the 1st, as Odubel Herrera led off the game with a walk against Dbacks rookie starter Archie Bradley, and then the red-hot Peter Bourjos remained so by taking Bradley out of the park for a two run homer and a 2-0 lead.
That lead didn’t last long, as the Dbacks got to Eflin for three of their own in the bottom of the 1st inning on a one-out Jake Lamb bomb to center field. Lamb’s 17th home run put the hosts in front by a 3-2 score.
The Diamondbacks added another in the bottom of the 2nd inning, but then Eflin settled down and shut them out over the rest of his outing.
Meanwhile, he got the Phils going offensively with a leadoff double in the top of the 5th inning. He would advance to 3rd on a ground out, and then score on a Cody Asche two-out RBI double to make it a 4-3 game.
“I finally got that first one,” Eflin said per MLB.com contributors. “That was a good feeling. It was 0-2, and I put a good swing on it. It was a lot of fun.”
Asche wasn’t finished with his comeback heroics. After Jimmy Paredes led off the top of the 7th with a base hit and moved up to 2nd and then 3rd on a pair of ground outs, Asche delivered an RBI single to right, tying things up at 4-4.
The tie didn’t last long, as the Dbacks battered Gonzalez and Ramos in the bottom of the 7th, and headed into the 8th inning with the 7-4 lead. That’s when the Phillies bats opened up.
Daniel Hudson came on in relief for Arizona, and promptly retired Tommy Joseph, who remained ice-cold by taking an 0-6 collar on the day. But the Phils followed with three consecutive singles to load the bases.
Following a visit to the mound, Hudson promptly served up a two-run single to Andres Blanco that pulled the Phillies back within a run. Herrera then grounded a ball at 3rd baseman Lamb, whose error allowed Cesar Hernandez to race home with the tying run.
Bourjos then walked to again load the bases, and Asche came through yet again, lifting a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Blanco with the run that put the Phillies ahead by an 8-7 score.
In the bottom of the 8th, Hector Neris stuck out two of the first three batters that he faced swinging. But he then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing baserunner Nick Ahmed to move to 3rd base. Ahmed would then score the tying run on an RBI single off the bat of Jean Segura.
So we headed into extra innings all knotted at 8-8, where Chip Hale brought in Silvino Bracho (0-2) to replace his closer Brad Ziegler. Bourjos and Asche stayed hot, delivering one-out singles that put runners on the corners.
It was Phils’ manager Pete Mackanin’s turn to play chess. He sent Tyler Goeddel up to pinch-hit for his closer Jeanmar Gomez (3-2), and Goeddel lofted a sac fly to right field, the speedy Bourjos racing home with what would prove to be the game-winner.
Mackanin then went to Brett Oberholtzer to nail down the game. The lefty allowed a one-out single to speedy former Phillies outfielder Michael Bourn, but then retired the final two batters without incident, striking out Peter O’Brien swinging to end it and earn his first career save.
“I can’t say enough about the guys,” Mackanin said per MLB.com contributors. “In Minnesota, San Francisco and here, we just kept responding. When we gave up runs, we came back and scored runs. It was a whole different team that left Philadelphia. It’s kind of like old times, but we are hitting better.”
The Phils end their nine-game road trip on a winning note with a 5-4 record thanks to the sweep, which avenged an Arizona sweep of the Phillies just a week and a half ago at Citizens Bank Park.