The Phillies playoff hopes live another day. The Phils beat the Orioles last night by a final score of 4-3, to officially secure a series win. The team now moves to 78-74 on the season, but after another Braves win last night, the Phillies still sit 3 games back of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, and 4.5 games back of the NL Wild Card.

Zack Wheeler took the hill last night for the Phillies and did just about everything he needed to do. He threw 6 innings of ball, allowing just four hits and one earned run, striking out 9 batters. Did Joe Girardi pull Wheeler a little early, with 97 pitches after 6 innings?

The Orioles would get on the board first, with the earned run from Wheeler coming off of a double to deep left. But Andrew McCutchen would step up to the plate in the bottom half of the inning, and immediately take back the lead with a tank shot to centerfield.

But as we all know, the Phillies bullpen loves to make things interesting. Sam Coonrod would allow an earned run in the top of the 7th, with a groundout to shortstop from Mancini that would tie the game. The Phillies offense would get going in the bottom half of the 7th, thanks to a sac fly from Jean Segura. The Orioles would intentionally walk Bryce Harper again, making the same mistake they did last night. JT Realmuto came to the plate once again and made them pay.

Cam Bedrosian would pitch the bottom of the 8th inning, and allow an RBI double after a wild pitch would move the runner into scoring position. That RBI would make it a 1 run game, as Pat Valaika would then single to right field. Pedro Severino would test the arm of Bryce Harper, and man did he make a mistake. Harper would fire an 89 MPH strike to home plate, and I’ll let you watch the rest.

MVP, and it honestly shouldn’t be close.

Ian Kennedy would come into the game in the 9th inning to close it out, and did everything he could to make it interesting. After throwing 2 innings on Tuesday night, Kennedy was obviously drained and was struggling to get batters out. He battled through it and threw 27 fastballs out of 32 pitches to seal the win for the Phillies. The last out was very scary, but hey, an out is an out.

The Phillies sealed the series win last night, beating the horrendous Baltimore Orioles by a final score of 4-3. Jose Alvarado would get the win for the team, with Ian Kennedy notching the save. The team will start their final home series of the regular season tonight, welcoming the Pittsburgh Pirates to town.

Stay with me here folks. This team isn’t done yet. Pack the Bank this weekend, Go Phils.