The Phillies took game one of three in demanding fashion last night against the San Francisco Giants, the team that currently sits in second place in the NL Wild Card standings, winning 10-4 at Citizens Bank Park.

Aaron Nola was on the mound for the Phillies and while he struggled early in the ball game, he managed to settle in and pitch seven solid innings, allowing just two earned runs on seven hits while striking out five. 

The Giants took an early 1-0 lead in the ball game but the Phillies and Bryce Harper answered right back in the bottom of the first when he roped a single to left field scoring Trea Turner. Edmundo Sosa then gave the Phillies a 3-1 lead, crushing a home run to center field. 

Edmundo Sosa Go-Ahead 2-Run Home Run 

Death. Taxes. Aaron Nola Home Run Balls. 

Nola coughed up a solo home run to LaMonte Wade Jr in the top of the third inning that allowed the Giants to pull within one run but just like Harper in the first, the Phillies immediately answered in the bottom of the third on an Alec Bohm home run to center. 

Alec Bohm Solo Home Run

On the night, it was definitely a step back in the right direction for Nola, who has struggled over his last handful of starts. With the win, he improved to 11-8 on the season and also 8-0 when pitching 7+ innings and allowing three runs or less.

Go figure. 

Queue Chief Keef “Love Sosa” 

Edmundo Sosa continued his strong night (both offensively and defensively at third base) with a triple in the bottom of the fourth to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead. 

In the fifth inning, Bryce Harper, as he typically does when the Phillies need him most, gave a much needed spark to the offense by crushing the baseball off the left centerfield wall that bounced away from Giants’ CF Wade Meckler. 

Harper went flying around the bases for an inside-the-park home run to pull the Phillies ahead 5-2. 

Bryce Harper Inside-The-Park Home Run 

Harpers inside-the-parker was the first since JT Realmuto in the 2022 NL Division Series against the Atlanta Braves. It was the Phillies’ first regular season one since Harper did it on July 27th, 2021 against the Washington Nationals.

All of which coincidentally, went off the left field wall. 

JT Realmuto Inside-The-Park Home Run NLDS

More on Bryce Harper’s Inside-The-Park Home Run >>

At The Plate: Phillies vs Giants

• Kyle Schwarber: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI
• Trea Turner: 2-5, R
• Nick Castellanos: 1-5
• Bryce Harper: 2-5, 2 RBI, ITP HR, R
• Alec Bohm: 3-4, RBI, 3 R
• Bryson Stott: 1-3, RBI, R
• Edmundo Sosa: 2-4, 2 RBI, R
• Johan Rojas: 2-4, 2 RBI, R

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Johan Rojas tripled to center field that scored Bohm and Realmuto, giving the Phillies an 8-2 lead. 

Kyle Schwarber then DESTROYED a baseball deep to right field and just like that, the Phillies were in double digits with a 10-2 lead over the Giants. 

Of course, Dylan Covey stunk up The Bank in the top of the ninth inning before getting yanked after allowing two hits and two earned runs in favor of Jeff Hoffman who closed the door on the Giants for the win. 

Phillies Hunt for Red October

The Phillies improved to 68-57 on the season and with last night’s win, hold a 2.5 game lead over the Cubs in second place as the Giants dropped down to the third and final NL Wild Card spot.

The Giants Are Who We Thought They Were

I have been saying this constantly in every NL Wild Card update at the bottom of each Phillies article over the past few months.

The Giants are an unserious baseball team and the proof is in the numbers. Their run differential is a pathetic +2 while the Phillies and the now second place Chicago Cubs boast +50 an +66 respectively. 

The red DIFF means a lot. It’s why we knew the Marlins were frauds. It’s why the D-Backs and Reds are frauds. And it’s definitely why the Giants have no business in the postseason.

Honestly, this is good news for the Phillies.

I would much rather have the Chicago Cubs finish in second place and have to play the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card round while the Phillies finish and first and draw the third and final Wild Card team which could be the Giants, D-Backs, Reds, or Marlins. 

From there, we move onto the NLDS and either the Braves or Dodgers, but let’s just focus on distancing ourselves from all of the “pretenders” in the Wild Card and finish the regular season strong and poised to make another deep postseason run. 

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