Seranthony is the future: Phillies 7, Cardinals 6

A rain delay couldn’t stop the Phillies. They beat the Cardinals 7-6 despite a 45 minute rain delay. The lead seesawed back and forth a few times, but the Phillies prevailed, suck it Cardinals.

Zach Eflin tried

He tried so hard to have a good game. Through the first three innings, Eflin threw just 32 pitches and allowed no hits. In the fourth, it all just spiraled out of control. It almost ended a few times, but two challenges went the Cardinals’ way and prevented Eflin from racking up three outs. A mid-inning throwing error from Carlos Santana gave the Cardinals their first run, and a single from Jedd Gyorko scored two more to tie the game. Eflin almost made it through six innings, but with two outs in the fifth the game was put into a delay, and when it ended, Luis Garcia was on the mound.

Gabe Kapler actually got angry

At what, you may ask? He got angry at the timing of the rain delay. As the Phillies played the first two outs of the bottom of the fifth, the sky started to get dark. Not just “it looks like rain” dark, but “holy crap find cover FIND COVER RIGHT AWAY” kind of dark. The clouds were evil looking, and after the Phillies got the second out, the umpire called a delay. Kapler spent a full minute yelling at the ump, getting angrier than I’ve ever seen him.

It was actually pretty delightful. But about 30 seconds after he hit the dugout, the sky opened up and it began to absolutely pour. The delay didn’t last long, thankfully, so it didn’t matter that it wasn’t an official game.

There was offense, but it didn’t hold

Woof.

The Phillies struck first, plating a run in the first on a Carlos Santana single. In the third, they extended their lead when Odubel Herrera hit a two-run home run, complete with a bat flip.

After the Cardinals tied it in the fourth, the Phillies once again took the lead in the fifth inning. Jedd Gyorko, who had benefitted from

But between the pitching and the defense, the Phillies couldn’t hold on to the lead. The Cardinals scored single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to take the lead back from the Phillies, and it wasn’t pretty.

But the Phillies fought back

At the start of the eighth inning, the score was 6-5. It didn’t end that way. With two outs, Nick Williams (who hadn’t had a great day at the plate) drew a walk. And Scott Kingery, in desperate need of a hit, got one. It wasn’t just any hit, either. It was Kingery’s first career triple, which scored the tying run. And then Jorge Alfaro singled, and the Phillies were ahead 7-6. It felt like a miracle.

Seranthony is our king

Seranthony Dominguez, our beautiful boy, our golden reliever, earned his first major league save. He threw two sparkling innings, and showed off just how big his arsenal is. He stayed in the high 80s for the four pitches he threw to Tyler O’Neill in the eighth, but everything he threw to the last two batters of the game was 98-99mph. Here’s his final out of the game.

I’m so excited about him. And it looks like Gabe Kapler is, too.

The Phillies fought hard, and they won. They have a chance to win the series in Sunday’s finale, and if the Braves lose tonight, they’ll have sole possession of first place. Hell yes.