PHILADELPHIA – Something special is happening here.
One more win and the Phillies go to the World Series.
“You couldn’t write it better for the people in this room, for the staff, for everyone in this organization,” Hoskins said. “But I think above all for the city. Yes, there is no better way to write it. I can’t imagine what tomorrow will be like.”
It could be even crazier than Saturday night with Zack Wheeler on the hill in Game 5. Imagine that.
So much good has happened to the Phillies this postseason. It started when they scored six runs in the ninth inning to beat the Cardinals in an epic comeback in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series. They swept that series and then throttled the Braves in the NL Division Series, which included an epic bat spike, historic home run in the park, brilliant pitching performances and more. The Phillies beat the Padres in Game 1 of the NLCS, which everyone will remember for Schwarber’s moonshot. They won Game 3 behind another leading homer from Schwarber and a six-out save from Seranthony Domínguez.
But what happened in Game 4 of the NLCS ranks at the top. The Phillies came from a deficit of four or more runs in a postseason game for the third time in franchise history.
“I’ve been so fortunate to be careful not to get hit by a bus when I’m crossing the street,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s a big game. You got through.”
Thomson selected left-hander Bailey Falter to start Game 4. Falter had not pitched since October 5 and pitched only one inning since September 30.
Thomson was hoping for nine outs from Falter, but he only got two. Falter was out after facing six batters as the Padres took a 4-0 lead.
Only twice in baseball history (Yankees vs. Indians in Game 1 of the 1997 American League Division Series, Pirates vs. Senators in Game 7 of the 1925 World Series) has a team come back after conceding more than four runs top of the first inning had a postseason game.
“Twenty-seven outs!” Thomson and Player said from the dugout.
“Getting hit in the mouth in the first inning is just a little memory,” said Nick Castellanos. “Like, you know what? We’re in a fight. Let’s go.
“The game will present itself and the game presented itself to us very quickly in the first inning. And that was a challenge to which we had to react very quickly. It’s just the character of the team. We felt that in our first game of the postseason. It was probably the perfect game we had because we were down until the ninth inning and we could come back and win. I think that quickly taught us that there was still so much baseball left to play.”
Schwarber started the end of the first inning with a single. Hoskins followed with a homer to cut the Padres’ lead to 4-2.
“We’re here,” said Alec Bohm. “Two batsmen, two runs? That really calms things down.”
JT Realmuto left and Harper doubled to hit Realmuto to make it 4-3. That put Padres right-hander Mike Clevinger out of the game. It was only the second time in postseason history that both starters did not make it out of the first inning. It last happened in Game 4 of the 1932 World Series with Johnny Allen of the Yankees and Guy Bush of the Cubs.
The Phillies’ bullpen made it big. Connor Brogdon replaced Falter with two outs in the first inning, and he tied a career-high 2 1/3 innings for relief and didn’t allow a run. Andrew Bellatti then pitched a scoreless fourth.
The Phillies tied the game 4-4 in the bottom quarter, but Juan Soto hit a two-run homer on Brad Hand in the top quarter of the fifth to make it 6-4. Schwarber worked a one-out walk at the end of the fifth and Hoskins smashed another homer to level it 6-6. Realmuto went again and Harper doubled again to give Realmuto a goal and put the Phils ahead. Castellanos hit a ball down the middle that hit second base. It took a nasty jump and went into the outfield.
“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than to be good,” said Castellanos.
Harper scored to make it 8:6.
The Phillies never looked back as Noah Syndergaard, David Robertson and Zach Eflin combined to field four scoreless innings of relief. Schwarber hit a homer from the batter’s eye in the sixth for a 9-6. Realmuto hit a homer to the left on the seventh homer as the Phils hit a franchise record with four homers in a postseason game.
Sunday could be fun. The Phillies will have Wheeler on the mound while hitters Schwarber, Hoskins and Harper are brandishing hot bats at the same time.
It seems too good to be true.
“The work isn’t done yet,” Harper said. “We still have a lot to do”