Phillies salvage finale against the Blue Jays, win 7-6 in extras
The Phillies salvaged the finale against the Blue Jays on Sunday, winning 7-6 in 12 excruciating innings at Citizens Bank Park, and just like the previous two games over the weekend, this game should have been over in nine.
Jesus Luzardo was dominant, Schwarber crushed two homers, the Phillies had a three-run lead with six outs to go, and the bullpen looked at all of that and basically said “nah.”
Same movie, different Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, a win’s a win, and after the way the first two games ended I’ll gladly take it, but my blood pressure may never recover.
Jesus Luzardo was great again
You could tell from the very first pitch that Jesus Luzardo was locked in, and thank God, because a bullpen running on fumes needed length in the worst way. He gave them seven innings, four hits, two runs, and TWELVE strikeouts against a Blue Jays lineup that had been a thorn all weekend.
When Luzardo is right, the pace is the whole show. In a league obsessed with speeding things up, this is exactly what they want. He was pumping pitches with nine seconds still on the clock, resetting instantly, and attacking again the second the hitter stepped in.
With that sweeper and the high-90s heater working together, at-bats against him feel completely unfair. The sweeper alone got nine of his 12 punchouts, and he can now land it, bury it, and throw it to lefties and righties alike.
Over his last 10 starts he’s got a 2.04 ERA, third-best in baseball, a league-leading 96 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings, a 0.95 WHIP, and a .508 opponent OPS that’s the lowest in the entire National League. Everybody wants to talk Wheeler and Sanchez. Luzardo is the guy carrying this rotation right now.
Phillies Bullpen Had The Worst Weekend Imaginable
Luzardo did EVERYTHING right. Seven innings, two runs, 12 K’s, a three-run lead handed to the bullpen with six outs left. He even wanted to keep going because he knew exactly how cooked the relief corps was and it STILL wasn’t safe, because this bullpen cannot protect a lead if you spot them three runs and tie one hand behind the other team’s back.
Orion Kerkering coughed up three in the eighth to tie it, and it’s not a one-off anymore. Over his last 10 outings, Kerkering has an 11.74 ERA and a 2.09 WHIP. That’s a full-blown disaster from a guy who’s supposed to be a setup anchor. His meltdown shoved Duran into ANOTHER non-save situation, with Mayza, Raley, and Kilian all following behind.
The Phillies have played 22 games since the All-Star break and Jhoan Duran has had exactly TWO save chances.
It is not on Duran. You can go sign the best closer alive, and it means nothing if the clowns in front of him can’t get him the ball with a lead. The bridge to the ninth is a pile of rubble, and until it’s fixed, the ninth-inning guy is just a very expensive spectator.
Oh, and Caleb Kilian left with an oblique that Mattingly said “didn’t look good,” so now the already-thin bullpen might get thinner. The only exciting part left is that the Phillies are now forced to bring up Alex McFarlane up from Triple-A, who in all honesty, should be up in the majors anyways.
Welcome Back, Kyle Schwarber
There’s been a fair question hanging over this team lately about whether they’re too dependent on Kyle Schwarber’s power. He hadn’t gone deep since July 18, and the Phillies went 7-12 in the stretch after. Even ice-cold, the man STILL entered Sunday tied for the NL homer lead with 33, and he’s held at least a share of that lead for 94 straight days going back to May 8. That’s absurd.
On Sunday he finally erupted. Stayed back on a Bieber changeup and drove a three-run bomb the other way into left, exactly the cushion a dealing Luzardo deserved.
When Luzardo hit a bump, Schwarber answered AGAIN in the fifth, ambushing a knuckle curve in his happy zone and launching it into the right-field seats for his second of the day. Two homers on a day the offense needed a jolt. Harper did the dirty work too, walking four times and extending inning after inning. When the big fella’s right, this lineup is a different animal.
The Walk-Off That Took a Century
This game refused to die. Both teams kept trading zeros in extras like they were allergic to winning. In the 11th, the Phillies nearly ended it, but Garrett Stubbs got gunned down at the plate by Nathan Lukes. Then Toronto grabbed the lead in the 12th off Kilian, digging one more hole.
This time, the Phillies climbed out. Bryson Stott lined an RBI single to tie it, Toronto intentionally walked Bohm to load the bases, and up stepped Derek Hill, who’d struggled all day.
Five days after nearly knocking himself out on the center-field wall, Hill delivered ANOTHER signature moment and walked it off.
Ugly, Stressful, Necessary
After dropping the first two to Toronto in gut-punch fashion, the Phillies needed this win way more than they needed to look good getting it. Take it and run.
Here’s where it gets real. The Phillies now hit the most important stretch of their season. Their next 18 games are against teams outside the playoff picture, starting with a Midwest trip to the Cardinals and Twins.
This is the feast window. This is where you build the cushion.
Then it gets nasty. 13 straight against Arizona, Atlanta, Houston, and Atlanta again, all playoff teams. Then 6 against the Nats and Mets, and six more against the first-place Brewers and Rays to close it out.
So the message is simple and urgent. Stack wins NOW against the teams you’re supposed to beat, or you’ll walk into that September gauntlet clinging to your playoff life.
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