The Phillies and Red Sox battled in a close matchup that ended with a Tommy Joseph sacrifice fly to win the game in the bottom of the ninth.
The Phillies and Red Sox provided a rather close matchup for a spring training game as the score was always within a run after the fifth inning. It was Philadelphia who came out on top, 6-5, thanks to a walk-off sacrifice fly from Tommy Joseph.
The game did not start off well for Aaron Nola as he gave up a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to Pablo Sandoval. He then gave up another run in the second to put Philadelphia behind by three. It could’ve been worse as Nola stranded runners in scoring position in both innings. Nola did throw a scoreless third and racked up six strikeouts on the day.
The Phils scored their first run in the bottom of the third on a Roman Quinn solo home run, his first of the spring. It just cleared the left-center field fence, and Quinn didn’t even realize it was a home run until he rounded second and could see that it had gone over.
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Nola struck out the first batter he faced in the fourth, but with his pitch count rising, Ben Lively came in to replace him. Lively didn’t allow a run in the inning despite a two-out double, but he did give up a run in the top of the fifth inning.
The bottom of the fifth was where the Phils offense really got going as they scored three runs to tie the game at 4-4. With runners on second and third, Cesar Hernandez laced a grounder to first base to score Bryan Holaday.
Howie Kendrick grounded another ball to the first baseman who tried to throw out Quinn at home, but his arm was no match for the speedy Quinn as he scored. Kendrick stole second and Michael Saunders knocked a RBI single to cap off the inning.
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After Lively gave up another run in the top of the sixth, the Phils scored a run on an error to tie the game back up, this time at 5-5. They had a chance to break the game open with the bases loaded, but Maikel Franco grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Michael Mariot kept the Red Sox silent over 1.2 innings and Edubray Ramos struck out two batters in the ninth to keep the game tied heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Franco singled to start off the inning, and Pete Mackanin called upon Dylan Cozens to pinch-run for the third baseman.
Thanks to a pickoff error and a fielding error – Boston’s third and fourth errors of the day – Cozens made it around to third with Saunders at first.
Joseph stepped up to the plate and with a 1-1 count flied a ball into left field. It wasn’t that deep of a hit, so Cozens had to hustle to score the run. He did just that, using every inch of long 6’6″ frame to score on the play to win the game for the Phils.
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Philadelphia’s next game is Monday at 1:05 PM EST, with Jeremy Hellickson taking the mound against the Orioles at their stadium.