PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies had the inning.
They just didn’t finish it.
So they took the game later instead.
After letting a golden opportunity slip away in the fourth, the Phillies stayed in it long enough to create another — and this time, they didn’t miss, rallying for two runs in the ninth to beat the Giants, 3-2, in the first game of a doubleheader on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.
For a team searching for momentum, a win is a win. But the Phillies had chances to take control long before the ninth inning.
The game should have turned much earlier.
Adolis García singled. Brandon Marsh doubled. Second and third. Nobody out in the fourth, down a run — not just a chance, but control waiting.
They couldn’t take it.
Bryson Stott struck out on three pitches, a tough at-bat in a spot where even a ball in play likely ties the game. García was then cut down at the plate on a fielder’s choice. Justin Crawford dropped a perfect bunt to reload the bases.
And still, nothing.
Rafael Marchán grounded out to end the inning, three runners stranded.
That’s the inning you’re supposed to win.
For most of the afternoon, it looked like they lost it.
Logan Webb made sure it stayed that way.
The Giants’ right-hander didn’t overpower. He managed. He worked through traffic, scattered seven hits across seven innings, struck out six, and never allowed the Phillies to stack momentum. Kyle Schwarber got him once — a 113 mph solo shot in the first, his 350th career home run — but nothing else broke through.
Cristopher Sánchez kept the game from getting away.
After giving up two runs on back-to-back doubles in the first, Sánchez settled in and delivered 5 2/3 innings of controlled baseball, allowing just three more baserunners the rest of the way. It wasn’t dominant. It was necessary.
It kept the door open.
And in the ninth, the Phillies finally walked through it.
Ryan Walker took the mound for the inning, and the Phillies immediately put pressure on him.
Adolis García led off with a single. Brandon Marsh struck out.
And when Bryson Stott stepped in, it hadn’t been his day.
He entered the afternoon hitting .213 and was already 0-for-3 with two strikeouts — including that missed chance in the fourth, when the inning was there for the taking.
One swing changed it.
Stott drove a ball into right field and didn’t hesitate, racing into third with a game-tying triple that flipped the inning — and the game — in an instant.
The moment was back.
This time, they took it.
Justin Crawford got a 96 mph sinker on the outer half and stayed on it, sending a ground ball to the right of shortstop Willy Adames. Adames ranged toward third, fielded it on the move and fired — a tough play, the kind that demands everything to go right.
Crawford’s speed made sure it didn’t.
He beat the throw. Stott scored. The Phillies had a walk-off win — maybe the kind of moment that can finally shift things.
Before any of that, Chase Shugart made sure the opportunity was there in the first place.Shugart struck out Matt Chapman to end the top of the ninth, stranding runners on first and third and keeping the deficit at one.
They didn’t waste it.
That’s how this one turned.
Not with the inning they were supposed to win — but with the one they refused to lose.
Trea Turner’s 0-for-4 afternoon with three strikeouts reflected the uneven nature of the offense. The Phillies didn’t capitalize early. They didn’t control the game cleanly.
But they stayed close.
And when the game gave them another opening, they finished it.
Justin Crawford finished with three hits, while García chipped in two — the kind of steady production that kept the lineup moving long enough for the late breakthrough.
So this one lives in two places.
The fourth inning, where they let it slip.
And the ninth, where they took it back.
That’s the difference.
Not perfection.
But enough.
For a team struggling to make anything go its way, they’ll take it.
Loading Phillies schedule...
Loading NL East standings...
Support the Mission. Fuel the Movement.
You’re not just funding journalism — you’re backing the future of youth baseball in Philly.
👉 Join us on Patreon »