Aaron Nola struggled with his performance on Friday night, needing 89 pitches to get through four innings, but the Philadelphia bullpen was up to the task and allowed just one run over five frames, carrying the Phillies to a 4-3 victory over the Giants at Citizens Bank Park.
Matt Strahm, Seranthony Dominguez, Jeff Hoffman, and Jose Alvarado, each tossed a scoreless frame in the win. The lone reliever that encountered a rough night was Orion Kerkering as he surrendered one run on three hits.
Brandon Marsh delivered a two-run single in the third to highlight a three-run inning for the Phillies. Alec Bohm contributed with an RBI single in the inning while also extending his hitting streak to 16 games.
"We swung it when we needed to tonight, and the pitchers did their thing," Marsh said.
Trea Turner added to the Phillies' momentum by drawing a two-out walk in the fourth, stealing second base, and then dashing home on a passed ball. Despite a close play at the plate, Turner's swift maneuvering caught Giants pitcher Jordan Hicks off guard and was unable to handle the toss from catcher Tommy Murphy and get the tag down in time.
"I just thought the way the pitcher and catcher reacted after the play, I was running decently hard towards third, and felt like they were far from home plate," Turner said. "I thought it would take a great play to get me out, so that's how I saw it in my head."
Unfortunately, Turner felt some discomfort while rounding third and left the game prior to the fifth inning with a sore left hamstring.
"I never really had anything like this, to be honest with you, but they seemed really positive in the training room, or at least more positive than I thought they would be, so we'll take it day by day," Turner said. "I hate being hurt, and I promise you it isn't going to be fun for the training staff," he added with a smile. "I'll wear them out and they'll want me on the field more than I want to be on the field."
Turner dealt with a right hamstring strain in 2017 while with the Nationals and spent a stint on the 10-day injured list.
"We didn't know really what happened with that one at first," Turner said. "With this one, we'll know exactly what happened by tomorrow."
The Giants initially took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with Thairo Estrada's two-run double, capitalizing on walks to Patrick Bailey and Matt Chapman earlier in the frame.
Nola needed 46 pitches to get through the second inning and walked four batters in the frame for the first time in his career. Manager Rob Thomson admitted he was close to making a change if Nola failed to retire Jorge Soler who was the eighth hitter to come to the plate in the inning.
"It's a lot, but he kept grinding," Thomson said. "He's tough and took one for the team tonight. He just keeps fighting and never gives in, that's just who he is."
The win lifts the Phillies to 11 games over .500, a mark they didn't reach until August 8 last season.
"Our pitching has been nails," Marsh said. "Our starting pitchers, the bullpen, I wouldn't want to face any of them, so they're doing their thing as an offense we're doing our best to get them a couple runs because that's all we really need."
More on Turner
Turner will likely miss the next few days and could land on the injured list, so the Phillies will explore potential short-term options.
One option is to move Bryson Stott from second to shortstop, but Thomson said Stott hasn't taken many balls on the left side of the infield. The club could also insert Edmundo Sosa into the starting lineup as a potential option.
"It would be a huge loss, he's Trea Turner, one of the best players in baseball," Thomson said.
