PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies are headed to New York tied 1-1 in the National League Division Series. Considering the performance of their usually trusted relievers, that’s a great result.
Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering both gave up home runs Sunday, Strahm allowing runs for a second straight day. Despite 10 runs allowed in two days, the Phillies persevered so as not to squander another sterling start, this time from Cristopher Sanchez, in a 7-6 win over the Mets.
Saturday, Strahm and fellow All-Star Jeff Hoffman allowed five earned runs, followed by Kerkering allowing two inherited runners to score.
Sunday, Kerkering’s response to back-to-back homers by Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos to erase a 3-0 deficit was to allow Brandon Nimmo to poke a two-out homer to put the Phillies behind again.
Kerkering has allowed runs (or an inherited runner to score) in four of his last five playoff appearances. The Phillies had lost the last four playoff games in which he pitched. Kerkering allowed only two home runs in 63 innings in the regular season.
With the threat of Nimmo, the Mets’ only dangerous lefty, Strahm got 9-1-2 in the top of the ninth, defending a 6-4 lead. He struck out Harrison Bader, then allowed a sharp single by leadoff man Francisco Lindor. Mark Vientos then jacked a fastball out of the zone, the red-hot third baseman’s second homer of the day.
“It was a bad miss,” Strahm said. “It was up, out of the zone. I was trying to go down and away and freeze him. He’s really good. He keeps his bat flat across the top of the zone. So if you’re going to go up, you have to go up, up. It was a bad miss, really bad miss.”
Strahm allowed four homers all year. It’s the first time he’s allowed runs in consecutive outings this season. His process for moving on remains the same.
“I’ve been a reliever a long time,” he said. “You’ve got to forget them as quick as you can.”
Four Phillies pitchers allowed homers. Yet still they won, which helps the page turn quicker.
“One hundred percent,” Strahm said. “Winning makes fixes everything.”
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Before Harper did what Harper tends to do in the postseason, the Phillies were staring down a fourth straight home playoff loss. But the recovery was about more than just the long ball.
Through the fifth inning Sunday, the Phillies had scored five runs and had 19 hits (seven for extra bases) in their last 32 innings of playoff baseball at Citizens Bank Park. In the first 14 innings against the Mets, only the eighth inning of Game 1 featured multiple hits.
Then Harper went yard after a two-out Trea Turner single. Castellanos followed with a game-tying homer to left. Then three runs on a walk, a single and Bryson Stott’s triple in the eighth. Then a pair of walks in the ninth for Castellanos’ walk-off hit.
“I thought one through nine, we kind of strung some pretty good at-bats going,” Harper said. “I thought Seve (Mets starter Luis Severino) threw the ball well. So just trying to string them along as much as possible and continue to pass the baton, that’s the biggest thing, understanding that you can’t get it all in one swing, understanding it takes the nine guys.”
Before the bottom of the sixth, Severino had cruised to five scoreless frames on 64 pitches. He didn’t issue a walk, but the Phillies worked one off Edwin Diaz, who blew the lead, and two off Tylor Megill.
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Manager Rob Thomson made a surprise lineup change for Game 2, sitting Alec Bohm for Edmundo Sosa.
Sosa was penciled in at third base, batting eighth. Stott rose into the fifth spot.
“I want to get some energy in the lineup with Sosa,” Thomson said. “He’s kind of our energy guy. Bohmer’s not swinging the bat particularly well, but he’s not the only one. He’s frustrated. But I just want to get Sosa in.”
Sosa went 0-for-2 at the plate, with a second-inning error that did no damage. Bohm entered as a pinch hitter in the seventh and went 0-for-2.
Bohm was 0-for-4 Saturday on seven pitches. Since coming off the injured list on Sept. 15 with a hand strain, he batted .170 (8-for-47). Four of his hits came in one game, Sept. 20 against the Mets. The National League All-Star starter at third base hit .251 with just four homers in 49 games after the break. He has hit.231 the last two postseasons with two homers and 14 RBIs in 31 games.
Sosa hasn’t exactly lit it up since returning from the injured list on Sept. 17 with back spasms. He batted .167 down the stretch and finished.257/.313/.422 with seven homers and 31 RBIs in 90 games.
Thomson said Bohm will be back in the lineup for Game 3.
“He’ll be in there (Tuesday) with the lefty on the mound, for sure,” Thomson said. “And I expect him to hit. I expect him to hit every day, because he’s a really good hitter.”
Source: Berkshire mont