PHILADELPHIA — A little ninth-inning frustration set the stage for some August fireworks from Trea Turner Friday night.
Carlos Estevez blew his first save as a Phillie, squandering a strong outing from Aaron Nola, but Trea Turner salvaged it with a walk-off single in the ninth as the Phillies won their third straight game, 3-2, over the Washington Nationals.
Turner’s fourth hit of the game thumped the Xfinity sign in left with the bases loaded and none out in the ninth against Washington closer Kyle Finnegan (3-6). It scored Brandon Marsh, who led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on an error.
Estevez, staked to a 2-0 lead, allowed three straight singles to lead off the top of the ninth. One was an opposite-field poke by Luis Garcia Jr. and one a bloop to center by Juan Yepez that came off the bat at 74 miles per hour. Jose Tena ripped a single to tie the game, then Nasim Nunez, the pinch runner for Yepez, scored on a grounder to second base where Bryson Stott got the out at second but Turner’s optimistic relay to the plate was too late.
Estevez, who got the win to improve his record to 2-4, blew his first save since May 10, when he was a Los Angeles Angel.
Marsh led off the ninth with a single off the wall in right and advanced to second when Alex Call’s throw ostensibly to second base landed in shallow left field. Cal Stevenson, pinch hitting for Johan Rojas and attempting to sacrifice Marsh to third, laid down a bunt that neither Finnegan nor third baseman Tena elected to field.
The Nats intentionally walked Kyle Schwarber to set up a force at any base. Turner swing wildly through Finnegan’s first offering but fouled off three balls before ripping the seventh pitch of the encounter 363 feet to move the Phillies to 22 games over .500.
“I was a little amped up in that situation, looking for something up in the zone, whether it’s a fastball or off-speed,” Turner said. “I saw it up, so I started to go, and I was a little amped up. But the thought process was right. It was just matter of down-shifting a little bit. … Just trying to see the ball, make good decisions, and got one in the zone.”
Turner, who batted .168 in his first 22 games since the All-Star Break, got a night off Wednesday. He said he spent the day taking “a million swings, tried a million things till something feels comfortable.” It has paid off with seven hits in 10 at-bats since.
“I think for me, I’m kind of a feeling guy when I’m standing in the box and I feel like, oh, I can do this, I can do that, and I’m seeing the ball. I can’t always describe it. It’s not always the same idea or thought or give it any name you want – it’s not always the same. But once I feel it, I feel like I can compete and do a lot of things. I searched for it on that off day, and I kind of feel like I got there.”
“He’s using the field,” said manager Rob Thomson, who celebrated his 61st birthday Friday. “That’s what we talked about a couple days ago. He’s staying on pitches, and he’s not chasing quite as much.”
Nola probably stayed in a few pitches too long, though it didn’t come back to bite the Phillies. Thomson wanted to see him get through the seventh, which looked likely after he got Garcia to fly out and Yepez to fly out. But a walk and a double by Jacob Young in the nine-hole ended his day at 111 pitches.
“I thought Nola was really good,” Thomson said. “I thought he was still strong. His curveball was really good tonight, he threw it behind in the count to get back into counts and he was landing it. I thought this command was really good. He pitched great.”
Nola allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out four, lowering his ERA to 3.45. He was aided by J.T. Realmuto throwing out would-be base-stealers at second to dampen rallies.
Matt Strahm entered and got Call to fly out to right to end the threat. When James Wood picked up his third hit of the day off Strahm with one out in the eighth, Jeff Hoffman forced a weak pop out before whiffing Keibert Ruiz.
The Phillies were left to rue eight men left on in the first eight innings, though the Nats left nine.
Two singles amounted to nothing in the bottom of the first. Ditto a walk and a single in the second, Patrick Corbin looking every bit the man who entered with a 5.98 ERA and a 2-12 record.
After 24 runs the last two nights, the Phillies finally got to Corbin in the third. Turner led off with a single. He reached third when Alec Bohm, who had earlier extended his on-base streak to 33 games, bounced into a double play. Nick Castellanos and Realmuto stroked two-out singles to score runs, Castellanos coming around after stealing second base on Ruiz, one of three swipes against one of baseball’s worst catchers at controlling the running game.
Corbin lasted only 4.1 innings, chased after 96 pitches when Turner doubled to lead off the fifth, though he was retired on a bad read of a Bryce Harper one-hopper hit behind him to the shortstop, CJ Abrams cutting him down trying to pinch third. Corbin allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out two. Three Nats relievers recorded 11 outs without allowing a hit until Finnegan retired none of the four batters he faced in the ninth.
Source: Berkshire mont
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