Phillies Comeback To Beat Cardinals 2-1 In Game One Of Doubleheader
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper run-scoring-single off of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Steven Matz during the seventh inning in the first baseball game of a doubleheader Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Despite a downpour of an afternoon in South Philadelphia, the Phillies were able to come from behind and pick up a win over the St. Louis Cardinals in game one of their day-night doubleheader. With the win, the Phillies ended the Cardinals’ nine-game winning streak.
Jesus Luzardo was excellent once again for the Phillies, tossing seven innings, allowing five hits and just one run, while striking out six. Luzardo earned his fourth win of the year, improving to 4-0 on the season.
Bryce Harper smacked two hits and brought in an RBI, while Stott added another RBI. Unfortunately for the Phillies and Kyle Schwarber, his 47-game on-base streak came to an end after going 0-4.
Battling through the rain, the game one kicked off on time at 1 p.m., and the first inning was over in just 14 pitches total, eight from Luzardo and six from Erick Fedde. In the top of the second, a walk to Willson Contreras and a hit by pitch to Ivan Herrera put two runners on with one out. Luzardo then sent Pedro Pages down on four pitches for his third strikeout, and Jordan Walker lined out to Harper on the first pitch he saw to end the inning.
The Phillies also had two runners reach base after Nick Castellanos singled on a bullet to right field, and Alec Bohm walked. However, with two outs, Brandon Marsh struck out on three pitches to end the inning. The top of the third ended quickly for the Cardinals after a big ground-ball double play off the bat of Mayn Winn.
No runs in the bottom of the third for the Phillies, and despite a single by Contreras in the fourth, the Cardinals failed to score once again. In the bottom half of the inning, Harper kicked things off with a bang.
The Showman smoked a leadoff down the right field line for his first hit of the game. Schwarber was able to move him over to third thanks to a long flyout to center. Unfortunately, with the infield in, Castellanos smoked a ball right at Winn, who threw him out at first. Max Kepler was the last resort to score Harper from third, but rolled a ball over to second to end the inning.
Luzardo chugged along through the fifth innings thanks to a huge pair of strikeouts to end the innings. With the rain picking up, the Phillies continued to struggle to get any runs on the board. St. Louis went down in order in the sixth, with Winn getting picked off while stealing.
The bottom of the sixth kicked off with Harper and Trea Turner walking to put runners on first and second with nobody out. However, after two long at-bats, Schwarber and Castellanos both popped out to shortstop for two outs, and Kepler struck out to end the inning once again with no runs.
In the top of the seventh, a run was finally scored. With Luzardo nearing his end, Herrera hit a double down the left field line, and Walker brought him with an RBI single to make it 1-0.
Down a run, Rob Thomson called Weston Wilson off the bench to pinch hit for Marsh, and he smacked a single to left field. Rafael Marchan was up next, and he singled to right, advancing Wilson to third and, after a review, was able to advance to second on the throw to third. Next up was Bryston Stott, and he singled back up the middle to score Wilson and tie the game at one.
Next up was Harper with a chance to take the lead. After getting the count to 2-2, Harper lifted a curveball to shallow centerfield, and it dropped, scoring Marchan. However, Stott just kept on running and was thrown out at home trying to score a third run to end the inning.
Now up by a run, Jose Alvarado came on in relief, but allowed a single to Lars Nootbaar and walked Winn to put two runners on. After Brendan Donovan grounded out to second to advance both runners, Alvarado was pulled. Orion Kerkering came on in relief and got Nolan Arenado to pop out in foul territory, and, after a long at-bat with Contreras, sent him down looking to end the inning.
The Phillies went down in order in their half of the eighth, including Schwarber, who grounded out to the pitcher, and with the out, failed to reach base safely for the first time all season.
In the ninth, Jordan Romano came on in relief, looking for his fourth save of the year. Romano, who has improved his play over the last couple of weeks, picked up not one, not two, but three strikeouts in the ninth, striking out the side, helping the Phillies hang onto a 2-1 win.
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Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
