After a come-from-behind victory over the visiting Seattle Mariners, the Philadelphia Phillies will look to capture the rubber game of the three-game series on Thursday afternoon.
Alec Bohm hit the go-ahead RBI single to cap a two-run, eighth-inning rally as the Phillies pulled out a 6-5 win on Wednesday.
“We fight ’til the end, right?” Bohm said in a postgame interview on NBC Sports Philadelphia. “It was the same thing as last year when we were able to put things together. … We feel like we’re never out of it.”
Philadelphia trailed 5-2 after two innings but got single runs in the third and fifth innings before the eighth-inning uprising.
In a bit of an odd night, the Phillies compiled 12 hits, 11 of them singles. Bohm’s single was the biggest.
“Just keep the line moving,” Bohm said. “You’ve got to go up and get a good pitch to hit.”
Phillies designated hitter Nick Castellanos stayed hot with a home run, two singles and three RBIs. He is 9-for-16 with three homers in his past four games.
J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott added two hits apiece, and Brandon Marsh singled to extend his on-base streak to 21 games.
The Phillies’ bullpen — Luis Ortiz, Seranthony Dominguez, Craig Kimbrel and Jose Alvarado — combined to throw five shutout innings. The four relievers allowed three hits, struck out eight and walked none.
“The bullpen did a great job,” manager Rob Thomson said. “They kept us in it.”
Matt Strahm (1-2, 3.00 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Phillies on Thursday.
Strahm is 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA against the Mariners over 4 1/3 innings in five career games, all in relief.
Philadelphia’s Wednesday starter, Taijuan Walker, left after four innings due to right forearm tightness.
“He’ll see the doctor (Thursday) and we’ll re-evaluate him,” Thomson said.
The Mariners will look to rebound after squandering the lead on Wednesday.
J.P. Crawford, a Phillies first-round draft pick in 2013, hit a grand slam, doubled and singled. Julio Rodriguez snapped out of an 0-for-12 skid with a homer. Crawford and Rodriguez went deep back-to-back, the second time this season that the Mariners accomplished the feat.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” Crawford said of the grand slam against his former team.
Eugenio Suarez contributed two hits and pushed his career-best on-base streak to 21 straight games.
Mariners reliever Justin Topa gave up four consecutive singles in the eighth inning and instead of another win, the result was a frustrating loss.
“One-run games on the road are tough to hang onto and win,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said, “but we needed to add on a little more. We put it all together in one inning, but it usually takes more than one inning.”
The Mariners will hand the ball to George Kirby (2-1, 3.57 ERA) on Thursday. In Kirby’s latest start, against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, he allowed three hits and two runs in six innings en route to a 5-2 victory.
Kirby has never faced the Phillies in his two major league seasons.
Before the Wednesday game, the Mariners announced that left-hander Robbie Ray would undergo surgery to repair his flexor tendon and he will miss the remainder of the 2023 season. Ray is in the second season of a five-year, $115 million contract.
“He’s down,” Servais said. “He loves being a part of what we’re doing here and he’s a big part of what we’re doing. But you won’t see him again for 2023. That’s a downer.”
Ray, 31, got hurt in his lone start this year, when he allowed five runs (three earned) in 3 1/3 innings against the Cleveland Guardians on March 31.
–Field Level Media
