After going through a small slump, the Phillies cap off their three game series with the first-place Orioles with a 6-4 win! The Phillies had some timely and clutch hits throughout, led by Edmundo Sosa and Jake Cave!
It’s no secret that Philadelphia’s other Big Five – Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos & Kyle Schwarber – hasn’t produced up to expectations so far this season.
But, hey, that’s why there are nine spots in the batting order.
Just 48 hours after the Phillies Phan base was clutching its red pinstriped heart over the fact that their team had lost five of their last six, a 6-4 win over the Orioles, the team with the second-best record in all of baseball, has changed everything. Happy days are here again.
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(At least until further notice.)
The stars Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park were Jake Cave and Edmundo Sosa, the eighth and ninth hitters respectively in manager Rob Thomson’s jerry-rigged lineup. And closer Craig Kimbrel ended up pitching in the eighth. It was just that kind of night.
With Bryce Harper starting back-to-back games at first base for the first time, Thomson had the option to start his best defensive outfield: Brandon Marsh in left, Johan Rojas in center and Nick Castellanos in right. Instead, he chose to play Cave in left, explaining before the game that he didn’t want to overwhelm the 22-year-old Rojas against a tough righthander like Baltimore’s Kyle Bradish.
Sosa started because slumping shortstop Trea Turner was given a night off.
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So, naturally, Cave came up with the defensive play of the game in the top of the game in the top of the sixth.
The Phillies were up by a run with two outs and a runner on second when third baseman Ramon Urias launched a long drive to left. Cave sprinted back, leaped at the wall and made the catch even as the ball was tailing back over his shoulder.
“That was a circus catch,” the manager said. “It was great.”
Said Cave: “You’ve got two outs and a runner in scoring position,” he said. “If as ball’s hit here, what am I going to do? If a ball’s hit there, what am I going to do. Then the ball over your head you can’t really think about. You’ve just got to react. But I timed it up pretty good. Felt awesome.”
He hit the wall, fell on his back and began yelling something at the crowd before flipping them the. . .baseball. “It looks like I was talking some trash, but I wasn’t,” he said with a laugh. “They were hyping me up and I was letting them know I was right there with them.”
He also had two hits, including a double in the third that was the Phillies first hit and drove in their first run after Marsh had walked.
“That’s our job,” he said of the Sosa and himself. “We’re playing around a bunch of superstars here and anything we do to help, we’re doing our job. Because any given day you’re gong to have Turner, Schwarbs, Harper all going deep and having these huge games. So if we can contribute something as well, that’s the sign of a good club.”
The Orioles tied the score at four in the top of the seventh, but Sosa homered off Bradish to give the Phillies the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. It was the first go-ahead homer in the seventh inning or later of his career. And it came one pitch after he hit a ball down the right field line that was just foul.
“All I saw was the ball going up in the air real high,” Sosa said through interpreter Diego Ettedgui. “So I stood there for a second and then I started running. The ball before went foul but I felt that my timing was right. So I was pretty comfortable.”
The righthanded Kimbrel had given up a run in each of his previous two outings, including his first blown save of the season, but that’s not why lefty Gregory Soto pitched the ninth.
The first three scheduled Orioles hitters in the eighth were switch-hitter Anthony Santander and righty swingers Ryan Mountcastle and Jordan Westburg, their 3-4-5 hitters. And all three available pinch-hitters at that point were lefthanded.
“We felt like if they were going to pinch-hit it would be at the bottom of the order,” Thomson said. “So we wanted Kimbrel going through the middle. So we just flipped it.”
Just 48 hours earlier, Thomson was being roasted for some of decisions. And that’s fair. Who doesn’t enjoy a exciting game of Second Guessing The Manager?
This time, the moves worked out. There’s joy again in Philliesville. For now.