Phillies explode in 9th inning to avenge Friday’s loss at Coors originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
DENVER – When Trea Turner suffered a hamstring injury on May 3, who expected the Phillies’ production at shortstop to increase?
Edmundo Sosa has been a big reason why the Phils are 17-4 since the day of Turner’s injury and was the catalyst again Saturday night in a ninth-inning comeback victory.
Sosa tripled in Brandon Marsh with no one in the top of the ninth to tie the game and scored on a single by Garrett Stubbs. The Phillies didn’t stop there, scoring four more times on a three-run home run by Bryce Harper and an RBI single by Nick Castellanos. They won 8-4 after trailing almost all night.
Harper drove in four runs per game after being ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes. This is how he seems to respond the night after any minor disagreement or controversy.
Stubbs had a productive game with two hits, a stolen base, run scored and the game-winning RBI.
Sosa has done major damage this month. Turner was hitting .343 when he hit the shelf. Sosa has hit .367 in 16 games since then, with four doubles, three triples, two home runs, 11 RBI and 15 runs scored. He also narrowly missed a home run to center in the second inning, flying 415 feet to the wall.
Sosa has batted .688 since Turner’s injury to lead the National League in that three-week span.
The Phillies avoided their first series loss since their second of the season. They still haven’t lost consecutive games since April 23-24 at Cincinnati, going 23-5.
The win went to Jose Ruiz, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning a night after pitching a scoreless 10th.
Aaron Nola worked, especially early on, and allowed single runs in the first three innings before rallying to get off to a quality start.
Nola started the night with two quick strikeouts, then lost his command, walked two in a row and gave up an RBI single to Brendan Rodgers. It was a 32-pitch first inning. The Phillies then went down 1-2-3 on just six pitches, forcing Nola back to the mound after just a five-minute break.
Brenton Doyle greeted Nola with a dribble down the third-base line to start the bottom of the second, stole second and scored on the ground out. The Rockies led from that point until Sosa’s triple in the ninth.
Nola was approaching 80 pitches in the fourth inning but rallied to get past six. The line itself looked great for Coors Field — six innings, two earned runs — which speaks to the stinginess of this MLB-leading rotation, even on a bad night.
It was yet another example where a Phillies starting pitcher limited the damage and kept the game close until the offense finally broke out.
The Phils are 38-15 and look to win their 12th series of 15 on Sunday afternoon when undefeated Ranger Suarez (9-0, 1.36) faces right-hander Cal Quantrill (3-3, 3.59).
