Tamed Tigers: Phillies 3, Tigers 2

It took them four and a half hours, but the Phillies finally beat the last-place, thirty-win Tigers in 15 innings, 3-2.

Aaron Nola pitched well, going seven innings against a weak lineup, allowing only four hits and one earned run, as well as the seven strikeouts. Sadly, this was less than half of the length of the game, as Gabe Kapler had to turn to his bullpen to fill in the rest of the marathon, including new reliever Nick Pivetta. Together, they fended off a couple of late Detroit threats, Pivetta putting together 3.2 scoreless innings and Juan Alvarez hurling the final two.

There were significant contributions elsewhere, as well, as the Tigers appeared—for a couple of seconds—to have locked up the win on a Brad Dixon single that was in the middle of scoring Nick Castellanos from second, until Brad Miller, playing in left field, made an accurate enough throw to J.T. Realmuto at the plate to get Castellanos and keep the game going. It was an act of heroism this team has seldom displayed and a welcome change to what appeared to be an inevitable outcome.

With the defense coming through, all the Phillies needed was their offense to show up. Against hot new potential season-saver Matthew Boyd, the Phillies managed five hits and two runs over six innings, striking out eight times. Roman Quinn walloped a mammoth home run to prove he was still alive and gave the Phillies their initial two runs. The lengthy affair led to Detroit emptying its bullpen as well, and the Phillies got a luck at just about every crappy reliever the Tigers currently employ, including former Phillie Daniel Stumpf, who took the loss.

Stumpf came out to pitch the 15th and faced and gave up a lead-off triple to Scott Kingery. He trotted home to score on Rhys Hoskins’ subsequent single, and the Phillies had the one-run lead that would win them the game as Alvarez set the Tigers down 1-2-3 in th bottom of the 15th.

The Phillies go for the two-game sweep this afternoon as Vince Velasquez takes on Jordan Zimmermann.