Jean therapy: Phillies 3, Marlins 2

The Phillies needed this one. After a dreadful road trip, the Phillies couldn’t afford to come back home and lose to a bad Marlins team. It wasn’t easy, but thanks to some key mistakes by the Marlins, and a game-winning hit by Jean Segura, they prevailed 3-2.

Heading into the game, the big story was Aaron Nola. Nola’s performance - or lack of it - in past Septembers has been discussed at length, and he was coming off a particularly bad start against the Diamondbacks. Thankfully, the “September Nola” narrative will be silenced for a few days. Nola pitched well, giving up just one run in 6.2 innings, while striking out ten.

The problem was that Marlins starter Jesus Lazardo was pitching just as well. Through the first five innings, he allowed just three hits, with the lone run coming off the bat of Edmundo Sosa.

The Phillies have wasted plenty of scoring opportunities lately, and it appeared as if they wasted another in the sixth. Sosa was on third with one out when Alec Bohm hit a fly to left. Brian Anderson threw a bullet home, nailing the runner at the plate, but thanks to Buster Posey, Sosa was ruled safe.

The lead didn’t hold, mostly because the Phillies’ bullpen continues to be leaky. Brad Hand’s determination to hit Charles LeBlanc (after a replay ruled that he didn’t hit him with a pitch, he went ahead and hit him for sure on the next pitch) resulted in a run scoring and a tie game.

David Robertson (barely) kept it as a tie game heading into the bottom of the ninth. Bryce Harper led off with a pop up to left that Anderson probably should have caught. The Marlins then intentionally walked J.T. Realmuto (an underrated hero in this one for throwing out two runners at second) to bring up Segura.

Segura was visibly fired up at the chance to be a hero. It took him two pitches to get the job done, and he was even more fired up afterwards.

Nola and Segura helped calm the nerves of Phillies fans for one night at least. With two more games remaining in the series, hopefully the team will be able to show that the problems that plagued them out West are safely behind them.