The Philadelphia Phillies came back home after a signature series win over the red-hot Chicago Cubs and looked to roll that momentum into Tuesday's series opener against the Washington Nationals. They're a division rival, but based on how the Phillies have handled them in recent years, there was more to expect out of the Phillies against a team like Washington.
The game turned into anything but boring after the Phillies seemingly cruised into the top of the eighth inning. The Phillies were up 3-2 with reliever José Alvarado coming in for a shutdown inning. But after back-to-back singles, followed by a head-scratching fielder's choice and an error on a throw home by Trea Turner, the Nationals threatened with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Phillies fan takes social media by storm after José Alvarado escapes jam in win
That was until the camera caught a glimpse of a young fan in the stands who was in lock-step with Alvarado as he began his windup for each pitch the lefty proceeded to throw in the jam.
Alvarado proceeded to strike out the next three batters consecutively and push Citizens Bank Park into a frenzy. Alvarado exploded with emotion as he retained the Phillies' lead without any damage, per MLB.com's Paul Casella. The fan was shown multiple times, including after the final swing and miss by the Nationals' Alex Call. The emotion was felt everywhere as the Phillies kept the lead intact and kept the fan mighty happy after the half inning came to a close.
The Phillies, after eventually surrendering the lead, pulled off a walk-off 7-6 win on a wild pitch that scored Bryson Stott. The win pushed the Phillies to 16-13 on the year.
Alvarado has been one of the few bright spots in the Phillies bullpen as he himself has suffered some ups and downs with his time in Philadelphia, per Kyle Morton of Sports Illustrated. But like the fan going motion for motion with him, all fans were in on having Alvarado's back, and social media took notice.
Alvarado is now 3-0 with a 1.84 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings pitched on the year. He also is currently sporting a 12.9 K/9.
The fan is a perfect representative of what fans are like watching the Phillies night after night. The hunkering down and locking in to every pitch in an improbable position is what fans live for. It's not always fun to go through in the moment, but it's worth the sacrifice when they pay off. The fan helped with that in the stands and showed how special Phillies baseball can be only one month into the season. The postseason is nowhere close, but fans got a little taste of it on an April night down in South Philadelphia.