PHILLIES LOSE TO MARLINS BUT GAIN IN THE RACE FOR A FIRST-ROUND BYE

BY ROCK HOFFMAN

It was a game the Philadelphia Phillies should have won. It was their first home game after clinching the National League East last week in Los Angeles. After two innings, they led 3-0 in a game against a team waiting for their season to end in less than a week – the Miami Marlins. Most importantly, they had Cristopher Sánchez pitching for them. Going back to the start of 2024, the Phils were 25-5 in games he started at Citizens Bank Park. However, they didn’t win. After Sánchez left following the seventh inning, the Marlins touched the Phils bullpen for six runs to take a 6-5 victory in 11 innings.

It could’ve been worse. Catcher J.T. Realmuto took a foul tip off his right index finger; x-rays were negative, and he’s day-to-day with five games remaining until the playoffs start.

You didn’t need Phillies interpreter Diego D'Aniello to translate what Sánchez said when asked how important Realmuto is to the Phillies’ pitching staff.

“Súper importante,” the lefty said. “We’re basically nothing without him.”

 A bright spot was the Arizona Diamondbacks scoring two runs in the ninth inning to rally past the Los Angeles Dodgers, thus reducing the Phillies' magic number to one for securing a first-round bye in the National League Playoffs.

KYLE SCHWARBER POISED TO STRIKE ON THE NIGHT HE HIT HIS 54TH HOME RUN OF THE SEASON.

Returning home with their 13^th National League East Division title in hand, the Phillies got off to a fast start with three runs in the first two innings. All the runs came on long balls. In the first, Kyle Schwarber hit his 54th home run of the season – a blast that left with 112 MPH exit velocity and reached the second deck. In the second, with two outs, Otto Kemp went the other way to right field for a two-run homer. After that, the Phils' bats went quiet with just three hits and seven total baserunners for the rest of regulation.

With Sánchez dominating, however, it didn’t seem like it would matter what his teammates did. He threw 91 pitches in his seven innings of work, surrendering just three hits and walking one while striking out six batters to surpass 200 for the season (he has one more scheduled start – the regular season finale on Sunday).

In the eighth inning, David Robertson came in to pitch for the Phils; he gave up a one-out home run to Griffin Conine. Then, with two outs and Otto Lopez on first base, pinch hitter Liam Hicks singled to center, Harrison Bader’s throw to the infield got away, which allowed Lopez, who had gone to third on the hit, to race home and make it 3-2.

In the ninth, Heriberto Hernández homered off Jhoan Duran to tie the game. It was Duran’s third blown save as a Phillie. It started raining with the Phils batting in the ninth, and there was a delay of one hour and nine minutes.

In extra innings, the Marlins pushed across two in the 10^th, on a single by Hicks and a force out with runners at the corners. In their half, the Phillies had two on and two outs when Alec Bohm knocked in Bryson Stott. Pinch-hitting, Nick Castellanos was down to his final strike when he drove in pinch runner Garrett Stubbs to tie it again.

Lou Trivino took the hill for Philadelphia in the 11^th, and Hernández hit him with a line drive to put men on first and third. Castellanos made a nice sliding catch on a sinking line drive off the bat of Xavier Edwards, but it wasn’t enough to keep Connor Norby from trotting home to make it 6-5.

The Phils got Rafael Marchán to third base with one out, but Weston Wilson’s hard-hit groundball was right at Edwards, at second base, in the drawn-in infield, which prevented Marchán from scoring. Stott tapped back to the pitcher to end it.

“There was a little bit of sloppiness,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson, after his team committed two errors and made a couple of baserunning mistakes. “It’s been the last couple of days, so we need to clean it up quick.”

It was just the third game of the season that the Phillies lost when leading after eight innings.