Philadelphia Phillies Take Commanding NLCS Lead After Downing Padres in Game 3
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What a weird and wacky game the Philadelphia Phillies played on Friday night in front of 45,279 fans at a packed Citizens Bank Park.
An instant classic.
In a game that featured Ranger Suárez facing off against Joe "No-No" Musgrove, the advantage seemed to lie with the San Diego Padres, at least initially.
Suárez came out fighting. In the first inning the lefty struck out both Ha-Seong Kim and Juan Soto looking. Not an easy feat. He followed up those two by getting third baseman and National League MVP candidate Manny Machado on a flyout to Nick Castellanos in right field.
A stellar start.
Musgrove didn't fare as well in the bottom of the first. Kyle Schwarber, always a menace in the box, put one into the stands as the leadoff hitter to make it a 1-0 ball game.
He set the tone.
For the next four innings Suárez did his job, keeping it close as the Padres scored just two runs in that span, only one earned. Phillies manager Rob Thomson decided to lift Suárez with just 68 pitches — a foreboding total — and turn to his bullpen to finish off San Diego.
"Yeah, so taking Ranger out after the fifth, he hadn't pitched in nine days. He had close to 70 pitches, plus we were coming through a right-handed pocket there, third time through, starting at Machado," said Thomson.
"So I just thought it was the right time to go to a right-hander, and that was Eflin. And [Eflin] did his job, he got four ground balls, two of them went through, and we got a big double play. But that's really the reason why."
Thomson decided to throw caution to the wind with the bullpen in order to get of Friday evening with a victory.
It paid off.
Zach Eflin, José Alvarado, and Seranthony Domínguez combined to get the next 12 outs, but they had a little help offensively to ease the pressure.
Philadelphia's offense had come alive in the fourth inning with a two-out rally started on an Alec Bohm single.
Shortstop Bryson Stott then took the baton and worked an incredible at-bat against Musgrove that ended with his second double of the evening and moved Bohm to third. Now it was Jean Segura's turn.
Segura came to the plate after having just committed an uncharacteristic error in the top of the inning trying to turn a double play that cost the Phillies a run.
He wanted redemption.
The second baseman took a pitch half a foot out of the zone and lined it into the outfield for a base hit. Bohm and Stott both scored, making it a 3-1 game.
Segura's passion and emotions shone through as he did his best Rhys Hoskins impression after his RBI hit.
In keeping with the themes of the weird evening, Segura was then picked off first for the final out of the fourth while Marsh was up to bat.
In one inning Segura had committed an error, added on to the lead with the biggest hit of the evening, and then was picked off.
When asked about Segura's eventful evening, Thomson pointed to Segura's emotion.
"Yeah, he's an emotional guy," said Thomson. "He made two great plays. The double play ball, he just whiffed it, and he had a huge hit for us, two-RBI base hit to right center. So he made up for the error for sure."
Philadelphia tacked on one more run on in the sixth inning just for insurance purposes after back-to-back doubles with two outs. Castellanos got it started with a two-strike liner into left before Bohm drove him home with a gapper that went under Soto's glove in right-center.
Perhaps the most impressive performance came from Seranthony Domínguez. The big righty was asked to work a six-out save after Eflin and Alvarado each went just 1.0 innings.
He delivered.
Domínguez became the first Phillies pitcher since the legendary Tug McGraw to record a six-out save in the postseason. The last time McGraw performed the feat was 42 years ago to the day, in the 1980 World Series Game 6.
Domínguez, ever stoic, had little to say about the accomplishment outside of what it meant in terms of just doing his job.
"It's like I tell the guys before, I'm here just to pitch and to do my job," said Domínguez. "I'm out of the game when they say you're out. When I'm still in the game, I'm going to try to get people out."
But, to say what it meant for this team and their odds of moving on cannot be overstated.
In the last 20 National League Championship Series matchups that have entered Game 3 tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the series 65-percent of the time.
It now makes sense why Thomson was so bullish with his high-leverage arms on Friday evening, even in the midst of a five day span of games that features no rest days.
Now, with a 2-1 lead in the NLCS and just two wins away from a World Series berth, Thomson and the Phillies will turn to the lefty Bailey Falter in Game 4 on Saturday night.
Falter hasn't pitched in 17 days, but he was an integral part of Philadelphia's rotation down the stretch and proved he could perform in big moments. The same will be asked of him again, but this time on a stage that the Phillies haven't been on in 15 years.
A tall order, but nothing Philadelphia hasn't faced and overcome this postseason already, however unlikely.
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