It was a historic afternoon for the Phillies on Friday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Philadelphia scored six runs in the ninth inning off the St. Louis bullpen, highlighted by a bases-loaded single by Jean Segura, to cruise to a 6-3 win over the Cardinals on Friday in the opening game of their National League wild-card series.
The Cardinals carried a 2-0 lead into the final frame and had been 93-0 in its playoff history when leading by at least two runs going into the ninth inning, according to Sportradar.
JT Realmuto began the rally in the ninth with a single off St. Louis closer Ryan Helsley. Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos then were each walked to load the bases. Alec Bohm forced home a run after being hit by a pitch to trim the deficit to one. Andre Pallante then came in as relief, and Jean Segura greeted him with a single that snuck through the right side of the infield, scoring two runs and giving the Phillies a 3-2 advantage.
"When you put the ball in play with two strikes in the ninth inning, that is what you have to do," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "They played the infield in to try to cut down the run or possibly double play from balls hit firmly. But the ball luckily just got by the second baseman, and we scored a couple of runs there. Great at-bat. Just put the ball in play with two strikes and keep fighting."
Edmundo Sosa added another run when he scored on Bryson Stott’s grounder to first base, and Brandon Marsh drove in another run when a ball got past Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong.
“Unfortunately,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said, “that last inning got away.”
Zach Eflin surrendered a two-out RBI to Nolan Gorman in the bottom of the ninth, but was able to close the door on his first postseason save.
"I thought we played well," Thomson said. "We just didn't hit early. And then, you know, in the ninth inning, we got a rally going. Those guys are so resilient. I've been saying that all year long. But then you got kind of a blown a couple walks, hit by pitch and scratch hit. All of a sudden, all these good things are happening. So they just hung in there."
Zack Wheeler was solid for the Phillies; he whiffed four and walked one over 96 pitches.
The Cardinals scored their two runs in the seventh when pinch-hitter Juan Yepez deposited a Jose Alvarado pitch into the seats in leftfield. It was the first go-ahead pinch-hit homer in franchise history with two outs in the seventh.
Jose Quintana was outstanding for the Cardinals, surrendering just two hits before being lifted in the sixth.
The Phillies will look to close out the best-of-three series on Saturday night behind Aaron Nola. The Cardinals will counter with Miles Mikolas.
"We have to come back tomorrow ready to play; keep this thing moving forward," Thomson said.
