Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
PHILADELPHIA – As you turned the corner from the press conference room and walked up the tunnel to the entrance to the Phillies clubhouse, you were engulfed in a fog.
The Phillies are known for their post-game celebrations in their clubhouse – with music blaring and the fog machine filling up the room. But it’s rare that that much fog seeps under the doorway and out into that tunnel.
But that’s how important just getting one win was to the Phillies.
The fog machine had sat dormant for weeks, so finally getting a win, coming from behind not once, but twice from three-run deficits and doing so with a big offensive outburst in a 9-5 win over the Miami Marlins, amounted to a need for them to pour some extra juice into the machine and get it wafting in as many areas of the park as possible.
It is just one win, and yes, it’s against the lowly Marlins, but Citizens Bank Park was just a few liters of embalming fluid away from turning into a morgue.
The Phillies trailed 3-0 four batters into the game. They scratched out a couple of runs on ground outs to get back within one, and then promptly gave the two runs right back to Miami.
Then, in the bottom fourth, the Phillies loaded the bases for Kyle Schwarber, who was mired in a 0-for-15 slump.
And as he’s done so often this season, Schwarber put the team on his hulking shoulders and delivered a rocket to left field that could have been the shot heard round the Delaware Valley when the retrospective of this Phillies season is finally written.
It just cleared the wall for Schwarber’s seventh grand slam of his career, but more than that it gave the Phillies the lead, awoke a sellout crowd that was sitting on their hands when they weren’t biting their fingernails, but most importantly, it gave the Phillies offense a jolt, and almost everyone else responded.
“It felt good to be in a situation where you can come through,” Schwarber said. “I was able to get a good pitch and put a good swing on the ball.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson benched Trea Turner for Wednesday’s game, saying he just wanted to give him a day off his feet, and that he would be back in the lineup on Thursday, and in the process every Phillie in the lineup had at least one hit – except for Edmundo Sosa, who was replacing Turner.
The transference of the lineup shift and Schwarber’s slam seemed to shake off all that was ailing the Phillies hitters all at once.
They erupted for 13 hits, nine of which were either hit to centerfield or the opposite field. Thomson lauded them for the improved approach.
“It seemed like as soon as we started to use the field and hit the ball the other way, we started to score some runs,” Thomson said. “It’s a good feeling. We had two, three-run deficits and we came back. The guys didn’t quit. They kept fighting and showed their resilience once again.”
Guys who have been in a funk lately erupted with multi-hit games. Bryson Stott had a single, a double and also walked in four plate appearances.
J.T. Realmuto had a single, a two-run double and also walked. He is now hitting .333 (6-for-18) in his last five games.
And then there’s Brandon Marsh, who many thought was going to be the guy the Phillies benched today, who had two opposite field singles, including one off a lefty, allowing him to also breath a little bit easier.
Jose Ruiz (3-1) earned the win in relief for the Phillies. He was the first of five relievers who came into the game after Thomson yanked starter Tyler Phillips. Combined, the quintet pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out seven.
Ruiz hasn’t allowed a run and has given up just three hits and three walks while striking out 13 in his last 10 appearances.
He entered the game in the top of the fifth with the tying run on second and one out. He got Emmanuel Riveras to fly out to center field for the first out, backed up third base perfectly, stopping an errant throw from Johan Rojas from going into the Marlins bench, which would have allowed the tying run to score, and then gathered himself and struck out Ali Sanchez to preserve the lead.
Matt Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, Jose Alvarado, and Carlos Estevez closed out the Marlins from there.
“(There) was more energy, “Schwarber said. “You could feel it in the stadium, and I felt like that was a cool thing.”
And so was having a little extra fog in the building to get them out of their recent haze.
ON DECK
The Phillies start a four-game series with the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday. RHP Zack Wheeler (11-5, 2.78 ERA) will start for the Phillies against Washington LHP Mitchell Parker (6-6, 3.83).
