ST. LOUIS – After coming off two straight losses for the first time since the first week after the All-Star break, the Phillies beat the Cardinals on Saturday night to clinch a series win and come close to securing the top Wild title. League one step closer to the National League. Card space.
The Phils are 81-67 with 14 games remaining. They lead the Cubs in the loss column by three games for the first wild card spot and own the direct tiebreaker.
They took the lead by four batters with a Trea Turner double and an RBI single from Alec Bohm. The Phillies haven’t trailed in the series yet, having scored four times in the first inning on Friday and maintaining that lead, albeit narrowly, the rest of the way.
The 6-1 win on Saturday was much more comfortable. Kyle Schwarber helped build a four-run lead in the fifth inning with a three-run line-drive home run to right field and posted an 0-for-16 skid that included 12 strikeouts.
“Finally,” he said. “It felt good to finally get away for a little while, especially because runners were in scoring position with less than two outs and were able to get those runs in.”
Schwarber is up to 44 home runs and 97 RBI this season. Bohm’s RBI in the first inning brought him to 90 this season. The Phillies have three players – Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and Bohm – with at least 90 RBI. The only other MLB teams with at least three 90-RBI players are the Braves and Dodgers.
The fifth-inning rally began with consecutive singles to right field by Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas, the eighth and ninth hitters. Marsh has been an on-base machine this season (.374 OBP), while Rojas has exceeded expectations offensively with 127 plate appearances, hitting .298 with a .344 OBP. He has had multiple goals in three of his last four games. Rojas is legitimately one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball based on traditional measures, advanced measures and the eye test. If he can hold his own in the bowl, watch out.
“Really good, really professional batting technique,” manager Rob Thomson said of Rojas. “He doesn’t chase much. Even his bunt shot (in the seventh inning) is just smart and he’s trying to improve. “He’s learning, and our player development people have done a great job with him, teaching him the game and the fundamentals of the game.” He was just great. He made a few catches tonight that I’m not sure anyone else can.”
Rojas’ excellent first step and reaction time were on display at least three times on Saturday evening. He got turned around a bit but came to rest under a deep line drive over his head by Tommy Edman to start the end of the first period. For an average midfielder it might have been a triple. An inning later, with two Cardinals on board, Rojas broke in and caught Jordan Walker’s shallow bloop to center the run. In the sixth, Luken Baker blasted a line drive deep to right-center and Rojas galloped left to block it. Edman and Baker’s liners had expected batting averages of .550 and .610.
Ranger Suarez got off to a strong start for the second time in a row. In his last outing, he pitched a no-hitter into the seventh inning and struck out a career-high 10 Marlins. On Saturday at Busch Stadium, he limited the Cardinals to one run over six innings.
“A good start, the first one for a long time I think, and we needed it,” Thomson said. “This is huge because we haven’t gotten a lot of length lately. Maybe this is the first in a series of them. He’s been throwing really well the last few games.”
With two weeks to go before the playoffs, Suarez is playing like one of the Phillies’ top two starters. Aaron Nola hasn’t finished five innings in three straight starts, Taijuan Walker has allowed 19 runs and walked 16 in his last 26 innings, and Michael Lorenzen was moved to the bullpen on Saturday.
Suarez has a 3.16 ERA in 17 starts since May 30. He’s been better than any Phillies starter lately except Zack Wheeler. He’s also likely fresher than the rest of the rotation, having missed two months this season – one with a forearm/elbow injury, the other with a hamstring strain.
“That happens sometimes, you always get injuries and sometimes it’s a blessing because you have to fight through them,” Thomson said.
Suarez agreed.
“I realize I missed almost two months, so I want to make up for it,” he said. “If it’s tomorrow, a week from now, two weeks from now, or in the postseason, I’ll be ready to do whatever I need to do to make up for it.”
The Phils have one game left at the Cardinals, three in Atlanta, seven home games against the Mets and Pirates and one final road series at Citi Field to complete the 2023 regular season.
Walker is on the mound for Sunday’s series finale at 1:15 p.m. ET. The Phils face Dakota Hudson, a right-handed sinkerballer who, like Saturday’s opponent Miles Mikolas, doesn’t miss bats.
“There were some tough losses at home, but there was a lot of fight and we never got out,” Schwarber said of the Phillies’ response after losing five of seven games in their last home game. “There were a few positives that we took from it and now we go out there and we were able to take care of business in the first two games and we want to take care of business tomorrow.”