OOTP 4/17: Phillies 8, Marlins 7

A little home cookin’ was all the Phillies needed apparently. After going on the road and enduring a horrible 2-6 roadtrip across the Midwest, the return home to the friendly confines of Philadelphia was agreeable to the team. But it wasn’t without it’s scares. Oh no, friends.

Pablo Lopez and Aaron Nola, the night’s starters, kept things moving along quite nicely until the bottom of the fourth inning. That was when the Phillies opened the scoring with back to back doubles from Jean Segura and Didi Gregorius to start the inning gave the team a 1-0 lead. After Bryce Harper struck out looking on a questionable pitch, Jay Bruce stepped up and laced an RBI single to right, scoring Gregorius and making it 2-0.

The Marlins would come right back in the top of the 5th when Isan Diaz singled and Miguel Rojas walked to start the inning, foreshadowing doom. Nola settled by striking out Jorge Alfaro and getting the pitcher Lopez to bunt into a force out at second, putting men on the corners with two out. Monte Harrison stepped into a first pitch fastball and ripped one into the gap, scoring both runners and tying the game at 2, a tie that wouldn’t last very long at all. In the bottom of the inning, Scott Kingery and Andrew Knapp were issued walks to begin the inning, then Nola bunted them both into scoring position. Then Segura and Gregorius stepped up and delivered back-to-back singles, making the score 4-2. After Harper struck out again, Bruce hit a two-run double, putting the score at 6-2. They would add another in the sixth on a Kingery home run and set Nola up with a 7-2 lead going into th seventh. He would keep that lead before he departed in the eighth, yielding to Nick Pivetta to close things down. That was when the fun started.

• walk
• strikeout
• single
• walk
• single (two runs in)
• another single (one run in)

That was Pivetta’s outing. It was his worst outing of the year. Victor Arano came in and mopped up the mess, setting up Hector Neris for a save opportunity.

Neris proceeded to allow back-to-back home runs to Harrison and Matt Joyce, making it an 8-7 game and causing palpitations around the park. Luckily, Neris settled down and got the final three outs, locking down the victory for the Phils.

A fun time had by all, except those with heart conditions.

The two teams meet again for a matinee tomorrow.