Nice Stott! Phillies 2, Cubs 1

Philly seeks revenge after being defeated twice by the mighty Cubs last year

• From
  
  Brian_McQuilkin
  

• on May 21, 2023 5:18 p.m

The last time we saw Taijuan Walker, he was giving up four runs over forty pitches in the first inning — an inning he couldn’t even finish before the hook knocked him off the stage. The rest of the gang fared no better that day, or at any game in San Francisco. They fell into an annoying pattern: they dropped runners, made costly mistakes, and gave up shot after shot, resulting in run after run. Walker came into tonight’s game with just three days off since that brief but infamous performance. Today he started the game with a clean first inning and continued to shine in 5.1 innings without a score, conceding just two hits, making three walks and hitting three strikeouts.

I gotta love a good redemption story. Let’s hope this is the walker that appears on every launch from now on.

Eric Hartline – USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday, Trea Turner was granted a break from the lineup after a disappointing start to his tenure as a pinstripe player. He hit more home runs and had more RBIs in the seven games of the World Baseball Classic than in the first quarter of the regular season. As he enters the batter’s box, he looks just as tense and frustrated as the fan base watching him, which became very real for him when Friday night’s sell-out crowd expressed their disappointment at his performance in the manner in which he was in the Philly holds every player accountable – a rousing cacophony of boos. He was reported to have been working with Kevin Long yesterday afternoon and returned to the lineup today to take the batting lead. He huffed in the first and third innings. But at the end of the seventh set he hit a line drive into the gap for a double and this time the crowd cheered the new shortstop.

Against left-hander Justin Steele, who has performed well for the Cubs this season except for his last game against Houston, Rob Thomson once again chose to sit on Marsh and Stott. Although Topper knows baseball and this team better than any other writer or commentator, one has to wonder if their contributions would have resulted in more runs today had they both started the game independently left-handed on the mound. Still, a win is a win.

In the second inning, the Phillies reached base when Steele defeated Kyle Schwarber with a 94 MPH sinker. With two punches to him, Bohm hit a slider into flat right field. Edmundo Sosa grounded Schwarber and Bohm to shortstop for second and third, but consistent with the Phillies’ recent schtick, the inning ended without a hit when Josh Harrison grounded.

Daulton Guthrie got a piece of a first-pitch sinker for a two-out double at the end of the fifth set – his first hit of the season. Trea Turner busted to – by now you know how the song goes, so sing along – take the bishop to No. 1.

After defeating Nico Hoerner in the fifth set, Walker was replaced by Seranthony Dominguez. A pick-off attempt went past Bohm, allowing Hoerner to move into second place. Seranthony then went to Dansby Swanson. He prompted a pop-up from Ian Happ and hit Seiya Suzuki to end the inning. Seranthony hasn’t given up on his deserved run since April 14th.

At the end of the sixth period, while Steele was still on the mound for the Cubs, Nick Castellanos nailed a slider into the left corner of field, earning him second place in standing. He was knocked out in third place by a laser shot from Suzuki in right field after a high pop-up from Harper.

In the seventh round, Sosa hit an Adbert Alzolay sweeper into the left corner of the field and pulled to second base while standing. Daycare graduate Bryson Stott, who was used as Harrison’s backup, got to the plate, looked at a shot, swung and missed a fastball, then hammered a four-seater into the right field grandstand to break the deadlock and raised the Phillies at two. Kyle Schwarber spoke for all of us with his reaction from the dugout.

It was the first close home run of Stott’s career.

Craig Kimbrel took the ball in the ninth, finished the game and hit two before giving a home run to Christopher Morel, who may think he’s a cat, but maybe not. Trey Mancini came to the plate with two outs and worked an eight-pitch walk. Then Patrick Wisdom entered the box that represented the potential winning run. But the baseball gods smiled at Philly today, ending the suspense with a pop-up behind the plate that mask-shed JT Realmuto was able to pursue and catch to end the game. It’s Kimbrel’s 399th career parade.

After being defeated twice by the Cubs last year it’s nice to see a streak from them, especially in front of a sold out crowd on a warm and sunny South Philly afternoon. The pitching team put on a solid performance, with Walker, Dominguez, Strahm, Brogdon, Soto and Kimbrel combined in a three-hit game and conceded just a single earned run. However, the offensive was 7-1 today, with the runners on goal and a total of seven players left behind. While they could get away with it today against the Cubs, teams like the Braves – who the Phils meet next weekend – are unlikely to fail to take advantage of the Phillies’ inability to move runners across the plate.

Game thread comment of the day

Today’s game thread comment of the day is from MG77.

next up

The Phillies are scheduled to host the Arizona Diamondbacks (27-20) tomorrow at 6:40 p.m. Zack Wheeler (3-3, 3.45 ERA) will take the mound for the Phillies.

Observations from left field

• Dansby Swanson continues to have the dumbest name in baseball history, even surpassing Steve Sharts, Rusty Kuntz and Cannonball Titcomb.
• On a cool, foggy night in Minnesota, Joey Gallo was hiking through the woods under a full moon when he heard a branch snap behind him. He turned and saw a shadow moving through the mist in the trees behind him. Frightened, he quickened his pace. Footsteps followed, coming closer, and he felt the hot breath of something inhuman crawling down his neck. Knowing he shouldn’t but couldn’t help it, he peered behind him. And then bearded Kyle Schwarber, wild-eyed, grabbed Gallo and pinned him to the ground. Schwarber looked at the full moon and howled before turning his attention to the terrified twin and sinking his teeth into Gallo’s flesh. The darkness swallowed him. When he finally regained consciousness the next morning, Joey Gallo staggered out of the woods and now has 11 homers and 23 RBIs despite hitting just .215 over 107 at bats.

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