Sometimes life throws you a curveball. Which is generally a better metaphor to use outside of baseball, because in this context we’re also dealing with curveballs of the literal variety, but I digress. This game was supposed to be played yesterday. The presence of backup backstop Rafael Marchán was supposed to be a break for the Braves. The last pitch of Marcell Ozuna’s 9th-inning at bat should’ve been a game-ending strike. The last pitch of the game should’ve been a ball. You gotta roll with the punches, if you can.
The first indication that this was going to be a weird one came in the top of the 1st, when Ozzie Albies broke for second on a stolen base attempt and Marcell Ozuna’s bat connected with Marchán’s glove. That’s batter interference, and the result is the batter being out, and the steal being undone. One to file away in the part of your brain recording somewhat obscure baseball rulings.
Starters Cristopher Sánchez and AJ Smith-Shawver (AKA Mister Say-That-Five-Times-Fast) largely traded blows through the first two innings; Sánchez encountered some basepath traffic and worked his way out of it. AJSS (AJS-S? Note to self: ask Braves media liaison if there’s an official abbreviation) then ran into a good deal of misfortune. First, he walked Brandon Marsh. Then Marsh stole. Then, Marchán took a curveball (literal) and sent it on its merry way to the right field seats, for a two run lead. The curveball (figurative) came when Smith-Shawver took a deflected ball from the bat of Bryson Stott off his shin. He lasted one more batter before being pulled and replaced with Scott Blewett.
And he wasn’t the only Brave that went down with injury, either. Stuart Fairchild bent his pinky in the wrong direction on a slide and soon found himself watching from the bench. His replacement? Someone named Ronald Acuña, Jr. Perhaps the name rings a bell. Speaking of bells ringing, you could practically hear the Citizens Bank Park bell tolling for a 3-run dinger as Max Kepler sent a fly ball sailing towards center field. But Michael Harris II, perhaps recalling that in bygone Boston days his club was known as the Bees, took flight as if he had wings, and snatched the homer away. The ball was one of many that reached the warning track and then died today, but none suffered a sadder fate than that ill-fated would-be-round-tripper.
The Phillies added another run in the bottom 5th with a combination of a Marchán walk, a passed ball, and a pair of bingles from Stott and Trea Turner. The Braves finally struck back in the next half-inning with a trio of singles, chasing Sánchez. Orion Kerkering came in, with Acuña Jr as the first man to face. He also singled, reducing the lead to 1.
On a day when so many balls died at the track, the Phillies needed someone who could hit a no-doubter. Thus, the Kyle Schwarber signal was sounded, and in the bottom 7th he sent a solo shot over the fence; though for good measure he avoided the black hole that is Harris II’s glove and deposited his homer in right field instead.
Matt Strahm replaced Kerkering in the top of the 8th, and the shaggy-haired hurler soon found trouble. Sean Murphy homered to bring the lead back down to 1, and a pair of consecutive doubles from Acuña and Harris II tied the game and chased Strahm. José Ruiz successfully got the frame’s third out.
The Phillies must’ve felt the momentum shift, the bedrock of their confidence beginning to totter underneath them. They needed a break. They got one. The top of the 8th began with Nick Castellanos singling and Kepler walking; Edmundo Sosa laid a perfect sacrifice bunt (like Elvis, apparently those aren’t dead!), and Marsh walked to load the bases. Marchán came to the plate, and could’ve hit a grand slam. But, being humble and sportsmanlike in addition to talented, he decided to spare the Braves’ feelings by driving in a run with a hit-by-pitch instead. Quite gracious of him.
All the Phillies had to do was get 3 more outs to close it. Like just about everything today, it would be neither simple nor calm. Jordan Romano was tasked with finishing it. He walked Albies to start, then put away Austin Riley with a strikeout as Marchán, the do-everything man, put Albies out with a caught stealing. But Ozuna walked on a pitch that should’ve been strike 3 and the game, and Matt Olson singled, and then Murphy walked too. Bases loaded. Eli White at the plate. Romano induced two quick fouls, then threw a ball. His next pitch, with the count 1-2, was just ever-so-slightly beneath the strike zone. The ump missed again. But this time in the direction of the good guys. Strike 3, game over, and half of a doubleheader, with enough chaos for the full thing, done.
The Phillies are 36-19. The series finale against Atlanta is probably happening as you read this.