Bryce Harper stood at third. Luis Arraez stood at first. Bohm stood at the plate.
Not for long.
Bohm got an 86 mph sweeper that stayed low but caught the heart of the plate, and he drove it into center field, past José Fermín and into the gap. Harper scored easily. Arraez followed. Bohm raced into third as Citizens Bank Park erupted around him, giving the Phillies a 7-6 victory over the Cardinals.
It was Bohm’s first triple of the season, his third hit of the night and easily the biggest. He finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, continuing a stretch in which a player whose future in Philadelphia once seemed increasingly uncertain has forced himself back into the conversation.
“I just really felt like I wasn’t trying to do too much throughout the at-bat,” Bohm said. “Just trying to stay as stubborn as I could with what I was looking for, and I was able to kind of execute that.”
Phillies manager Don Mattingly has another description for Bohm when he gets rolling.
“He’s kind of a collector,” Mattingly said. “He collects those RBIs.”
Bohm collected three Friday, and Philadelphia needed every one of them.
St. Louis jumped ahead in the first when Joshua Báez hit a two-run homer off Jesús Luzardo after Jordan Walker reached and moved to second on Bryson Stott’s throwing error.
The Phillies answered in the second. Stott walked, Brandon Marsh doubled him home and J.T. Realmuto followed with another RBI double to tie it. An inning later, Arraez doubled before Bohm singled him home for a 3-2 lead.
Harper’s first-inning walk extended his on-base streak to 24 games.
Cardinals starter Hunter Dobbins came out after throwing one pitch in the fifth inning. St. Louis later announced that Dobbins was dealing with right forearm stiffness. Caleb Ferguson replaced him.
Luzardo carried the lead into the sixth before Walker hit a two-run homer to put St. Louis back in front, 4-3. Luzardo finished with nine strikeouts over 5⅔ innings, allowing four runs on six hits.
“I felt like I had probably the best fastball and changeup all year, but the sweeper just wasn’t there all night,” Luzardo said.
He pointed to the second inning, despite escaping it without allowing a run, as the point where things felt most out of sync.
“It just felt like it kind of fell apart,” Luzardo said. “I couldn’t find the zone, threw some really uncompetitive pitches. But after that inning, I felt like we made some adjustments, got back in the zone a little bit more and found the sweeper.”
Mattingly saw much the same thing.
“He settled down after that,” Mattingly said. “He was trying to start making fixes.”
The Phillies did the same thing offensively.
Bohm and Marsh singled in the sixth before Realmuto doubled home Bohm. Justin Crawford followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Marsh and pushed Philadelphia back ahead, 5-4.
The rally fit a larger pattern Mattingly has noticed lately — fewer empty innings, more pressure and a lineup increasingly willing to hand the at-bat to the next hitter.
“I think we just keep having at-bats,” Mattingly said. “Games are getting hard to win. But I like the fact that we’re kind of passing the baton, just trying to keep having good at-bats, keep putting pressure on them as much as we can.”
Bohm sees the same thing.
“I think everybody’s definitely feeding off each other,” he said. “We’re just doing a good job of trying to set the guy up behind us for success and just sustain innings and keep the line moving as much as we can.”
St. Louis tied the game in the eighth when Bryan Torres singled home Alec Burleson. Jhoan Duran worked a scoreless ninth, but the Phillies went quietly in the bottom half.
Then the Cardinals pushed ahead again.
Fermín singled home the automatic runner against Alex McFarlane in the 10th for a 6-5 St. Louis lead. McFarlane limited the damage by inducing an inning-ending double play.
That mattered.
Harper opened the bottom half at second. Arraez lined his third hit of the night into right, sending Harper to third.
Then Bohm ended it.
Philadelphia finished 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Arraez and Bohm each had three hits. Realmuto doubled twice. Marsh had two hits.
The Phillies did it without waiting for one three-run homer to rescue them. They kept getting runners on base. They kept forcing St. Louis to make pitches.
For Bohm and Mattingly, that may be the more important part.
“When you get deep into the postseason, you’re facing the best arms on the planet,” Bohm said. “Being able to string stuff together and not just rely on one big three-run homer … being able to grind out at-bats, maybe get a starter out earlier, force the bullpen into the game early and get a couple walks and get a big hit.”
Mattingly believes that approach is precisely what October demands.
“The good at-bats are how you win in the playoffs up and down the lineup,” he said. “The teams that have kind of put pressure on you, get guys out there, keep having good at-bats — it just continuously forces guys to make pitches. And they’re going to make mistakes. The best of the best, they make mistakes.”
Friday was a case study.
The Phillies trailed 2-0.
Then 4-3.
They lost a late lead.
They fell behind again in the 10th.
And each time, they answered.
“I think we’re never really out of the fight,” Luzardo said. “We have a lot of fight, a lot of ability to fight back no matter how deep it is.”
September is approaching. The Phillies know what remains in front of them.
And Luzardo knows what he believes this team is capable of doing with it.
“I’m fully sold that this team can go as far as we want,” he said. “We just need to play the brand of baseball that we know we can.”
Cardinals starter Hunter Dobbins came out after throwing one pitch in the fifth inning. St. Louis later announced that Dobbins was dealing with right forearm stiffness. Caleb Ferguson replaced him.
Luzardo carried the lead into the sixth before Walker hit a two-run homer to put St. Louis back in front, 4-3. Luzardo finished with nine strikeouts over 5⅔ innings, allowing four runs on six hits.
“I felt like I had probably the best fastball and changeup all year, but the sweeper just wasn’t there all night,” Luzardo said.
He pointed to the second inning, despite escaping it without allowing a run, as the point where things felt most out of sync.
“It just felt like it kind of fell apart,” Luzardo said. “I couldn’t find the zone, threw some really uncompetitive pitches. But after that inning, I felt like we made some adjustments, got back in the zone a little bit more and found the sweeper.”
Mattingly saw much the same thing.
“He settled down after that,” Mattingly said. “He was trying to start making fixes.”
The Phillies did the same thing offensively.
Bohm and Marsh singled in the sixth before Realmuto doubled home Bohm. Justin Crawford followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Marsh and pushed Philadelphia back ahead, 5-4.
The rally fit a larger pattern Mattingly has noticed lately — fewer empty innings, more pressure and a lineup increasingly willing to hand the at-bat to the next hitter.
“I think we just keep having at-bats,” Mattingly said. “Games are getting hard to win. But I like the fact that we’re kind of passing the baton, just trying to keep having good at-bats, keep putting pressure on them as much as we can.”
Bohm sees the same thing.
“I think everybody’s definitely feeding off each other,” he said. “We’re just doing a good job of trying to set the guy up behind us for success and just sustain innings and keep the line moving as much as we can.”
St. Louis tied the game in the eighth when Bryan Torres singled home Alec Burleson. Jhoan Duran worked a scoreless ninth, but the Phillies went quietly in the bottom half.
Then the Cardinals pushed ahead again.
Fermín singled home the automatic runner against Alex McFarlane in the 10th for a 6-5 St. Louis lead. McFarlane limited the damage by inducing an inning-ending double play.
That mattered.
Harper opened the bottom half at second. Arraez lined his third hit of the night into right, sending Harper to third.
Then Bohm ended it.
Philadelphia finished 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Arraez and Bohm each had three hits. Realmuto doubled twice. Marsh had two hits.
The Phillies did it without waiting for one three-run homer to rescue them. They kept getting runners on base. They kept forcing St. Louis to make pitches.
For Bohm and Mattingly, that may be the more important part.
“When you get deep into the postseason, you’re facing the best arms on the planet,” Bohm said. “Being able to string stuff together and not just rely on one big three-run homer … being able to grind out at-bats, maybe get a starter out earlier, force the bullpen into the game early and get a couple walks and get a big hit.”
Mattingly believes that approach is precisely what October demands.
“The good at-bats are how you win in the playoffs up and down the lineup,” he said. “The teams that have kind of put pressure on you, get guys out there, keep having good at-bats — it just continuously forces guys to make pitches. And they’re going to make mistakes. The best of the best, they make mistakes.”
Friday was a case study.
The Phillies trailed 2-0.
Then 4-3.
They lost a late lead.
They fell behind again in the 10th.
And each time, they answered.
“I think we’re never really out of the fight,” Luzardo said. “We have a lot of fight, a lot of ability to fight back no matter how deep it is.”
September is approaching. The Phillies know what remains in front of them.
And Luzardo knows what he believes this team is capable of doing with it.
“I’m fully sold that this team can go as far as we want,” he said. “We just need to play the brand of baseball that we know we can.”
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