Phillies Lose 11-inning Battle Against Marlins in Chaotic Fashion
Photo via The New York Times
Whew. That was exhausting.
You would think that by the end of September, we would have seen everything by now. But tonight made it clear that this is not the case. Tonight’s ballgame lasted for nearly five hours and was plagued with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for the Phillies. The battle truly could have gone either way, and the Phillies battled back when they needed to, yet they ultimately fell short.
The Phillies’ first high came early, as Kyle Schwarber obliterated his fifty-fourth home run of the season, giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Just one inning later, it was Otto Kemp’s turn. The rookie infielder shot a line drive over the right-center field wall, marking his seventh home run of the season (and his third since returning to the majors on September 8).
Luckily, Phillies’ southpaw Christopher Sanchez was able to keep his success going against the Miami Marlins. Sanchez chucked seven scoreless innings and left the game in line for the win.
After Sanchez’s exit, there were not too many more positive things to come for the Phillies. David Robertson and the Phillies’ defense allowed the Marlins to make it a 3-2 game in the top of the eighth, and only an inning after, Jhoan Duran left a fastball right down the middle that Marlins’ DH Heriberto Hernandez aptly sent into the stands.
The game was then tied, and that was when the rain began falling.
In the middle of this mess, Phillies’ catcher J.T. Realmuto took a hard foul ball to the right hand. Realmuto finished the inning, but Rafael Marchan pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth, leading to many unanswered questions about Realmuto’s status.
After a long delay, the Phillies were unable to pull through in the home half of the ninth, and the Marlins struck early and often against Orion Kerkering in the top of the tenth. But in true Phillies fashion, they did not lose it then. Facing a two-run deficit, Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos came up big with RBI singles, tying the game at five and forcing an eleventh inning. Unfortunately, the Marlins nabbed another run, and the Phillies’ luck ran out, as the Marlins threw a scoreless eleventh inning to win game one of three in Philadelphia.
Colin Daly
Colin is an editor and the lead Phillies writer for Philly Sports Reports. He has been covering sports since 2020 and has been with PSR since the summer of 2021. As a lifelong Philly fan, he has a strong passion for the core four and does not miss a game. Colin is a co-host of the Bell Ringers podcast.
Get new articles emailed right to your inbox.
