Bryce Harper Hero Ball, Johan Rojas Bailout, and a Kody Clemens Walk Off: Phillies beat the Rays 2-1
The Philadelphia Phillies returned home to Citizens Bank Park and beat the Tampa Bay Rays in walk off fashion, thanks to a walk off RBI in the ninth courtesy of Kody Clemens.
Of course, the win didn’t come without controversy. Everyone and their mothers got mad at Bryce Harper for not hustling out a double in the ninth inning.
Bryce Harper failed walk off turns into a single
Listen, Bryce Harper has done enough
To get the benefit of doubt a million times over from this fanbase and the entire Phillies organization.
An injured Bryce Harper didn’t hustle out a double in mid-September with the Phillies holding a comfortable cushion in the NL East while being within a game of having the best record in all of Major League Baseball?
We’ll survive. I promise.
Here’s the problem: I’m am pissed at the fact that Harper, who hasn’t hit a home run because of his injury in what has to be 100+ at-bats at this point, thought he could sit there basking in all his glory for what he believed to be a walk off homer.
You have to run that out, Bryce – but you know that already.
I’ve been saying it for weeks that Harper shouldn’t be playing “hero ball” and that the ONLY matter of importance from here on out should be every single player on the Phillies roster preparing to be as healthy as possible entering October.
Thankfully Bryce and the rest of the Phillies offense, who as usual, shown to be red hot to ice cold in a matter of days, got bailed out by none other than Buddy Kennedy and Cody Clemens.
Let’s rewind real quick: The Phillies were getting no-hit through five innings. In the bottom of the sixth, Kyle Schwarber crushed a solo home run to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the ball game.
Thankfully, while the Phillies offense struggled, Christopher Sanchez kept a bad Tampa Bay Rays lineup silent, throwing six solid innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out four.
Orion Kerkering and Jeff Hoffman pitched shutout innings, handing the game over to Carlos Estevez in the ninth.
Estevez has been fantastic but coughed up a game-tying leadoff homer in the top of the ninth to Brandon Low.
It was a ball that should have been caught, but Johan Rojas, who loves to be overly-cocky about his defense in center, let the baseball come out of his glove and over the wall in center.
You want to be mad at anyone tonight, make sure it’s Johan Rojas….and Renee Washington from PHLY Sports who for whatever reason, tweeted this following the game:
Yeah I’m just as confused as you are.
I’m also confused why Rojas walks away clean from tonight’s game. If he’s not playing elite defense in centerfield, he’s completely useless.
Anyways, the home run from Lowe tied the ball game and sent it into the bottom of the ninth.
With two outs and two on in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game, Topper sent Buddy Kennedy to the dish. Why? Because Brandon Marsh wasn’t doing shit in left. Weston Wilson has been ice cold. Cal Stevenson, to put it simply, sucks.
Kennedy had a total of two plate appearances at the major league level with the Phillies. He struck out and walked at the end of Sunday’s blowout loss in Miami.
The Millville native answered the call, drawing a full count walk while the crowd at Citizens Bank Park chanted “Buddy, Buddy, Buddy” throughout the at-bat.
The chants turned to “Kody, Kody, Kody” as Clemens stepped up to the plate next. He delivered the walk off hit to give the Phillies a battle-tested 2-1 win over the Rays.
WATCH: Kody Clemens seals win with clutch walk-off hit against Rays in bottom of the 9th inning >>
The Phillies are 86-58, up seven games on the Mets and eight on the Braves with 18 to play. The Dodgers are playing right now and are getting rocked by the Chicago Cubs 7-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning – meaning the Phillies could wake up tomorrow holding onto the best record in the National League AND in all of Major League Baseball.
18 games left. Plenty of work to be done.
Ring it.
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