I literally can’t Irvin: Phillies 6, Royals 1

You know what’s cool? Seven strong innings. You know what’s cooler? Those same innings, also backed by an eruption of offense, even it is contained to a single inning.

Add in other cool factors like “hits with the bases loaded” and “this was another series win” and “a starting pitcher making his MLB debut in front of his mother on Mother’s Day” and “the laws of MLBAM being flagrantly disregarded” and this game could not have played out much better.

Vince Velasquez’s right forearm strain opened the door for Cole Irvin to get the call from triple A today for the matinee series finale in Kansas City, a 25-year-old lefty hurler with a 2.35 ERA through 36 innings for the IronPigs. He and his slider worked their way through the Royals, keeping Kansas City off the board for most of the game except for the singular for thorn-in-the-side Alex Gordon in the third, whose single created a run-scoring play that required an approximately ten-hour umpire review.

No matter. Irvin needed 76 pitches to get through six innings. In the mean time, the top of the fifth inning came along, and it stuck around for a while. The Phillies used walks and an error to load up on base runners before Jean Segura tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI single. Bryce Harper reloaded the bases by walking and Royals start Adam Feller, a chronic walker, got a pep talk from his coach before walking Rhys Hoskins to give the Phillies a lead. Things really came to life on J.T. Realmuto’s double and Odubel Herrera’s single, ending the frame with a 6-1 lead that would last through the rest of the game.

Irvin used 93 pitches to burn through seven innings of the Royals the first time he stepped on a major league mound. The Phillies went 4-2 on their road trip and are still looking fine at the top of the NL East, 3.5 games over the Braves.