Rafael Marchán’s homer leads to Phillies’ comeback win over Dodgers; magic number for bye at 4
LOS ANGELES — On a normal night, Rafael Marchán was not supposed to be at the plate in a tie ballgame in the ninth inning.
When rosters expanded earlier this month, the Phillies opted to bring up Garrett Stubbs as a third catcher for the express reason of turning J.T. Realmuto into a pinch-hitting option late in games he doesn’t start.
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With the Phillies deadlocked, 6-6, with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth inning on Tuesday, it seemed like the exact scenario they planned for was about to play out. But Realmuto was dealing with an illness, and so things instead came down to the backup catcher.
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Marchán watched four pitches from Blake Treinen go by without lifting his bat off his shoulders. When he finally did swing, on a 3-1 cutter on the inside edge of the plate, it just sneaked over the wall in the right field corner. But it was the biggest home run of his life.
“He plays once every fifth day, once every sixth day,” said manager Rob Thomson. “And to be prepared as he is, not only behind the plate, but offensively too — and he’s got to do double work because of being a switch-hitter — he’s just done a fabulous job.”
The three-run shot put the Phillies in front for the 9-6 win over the Dodgers. They increased their lead to 6½ games over Los Angeles for the first-round bye, and also secured the tiebreaker by winning the season series. Their magic number for clinching a first-round playoff bye was reduced to 4.
The Phillies, fresh off a boisterous celebration for clinching the National League East title the night before, did not run out a prototypical “hangover lineup” on Tuesday. With Shohei Ohtani pitching for the first time in his career against the Phillies, Marchán was the only different starter from Monday.
The two-way Dodgers superstar held them without a hit until he reached his pre-planned innings limit of five. The only baserunner Ohtani allowed was a first-inning walk to the two-time MVP on the other team, Bryce Harper.
“I’m a believer of the more you see a guy, the more comfortable you get, even when he has ‘X’ amount of pitches that he has, plus-plus pitches,” said Brandon Marsh. “I’m glad we saw him tonight, so down the road, we have a better understanding and feeling for him.”
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Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez left a few pitches over the plate early, and the Dodgers made him pay. Sánchez had not allowed a homer since July 28, but Alex Call and Kiké Hernández took him deep in the second inning to end that streak and put the Phillies down, 3-0.
The Dodgers added another run on a sacrifice fly from Hernández in the fourth, but Sánchez held them off the scoreboard after that, completing seven innings and striking out six.
“I felt good today,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “I was attacking the hitters early and I was throwing strikes. The only bad thing about it was maybe they got me with a couple pitches that I left in the zone.”
Even with the Phillies staring down a 4-0 deficit, when Ohtani was lifted after five innings and 68 pitches, they knew they had an opportunity.
“He’s the star that he is,” Marchán said. “Being able to throw the way that he throws, and also hit the way that he hits, is truly special. But they took him out, and we had the chance, and we won the game.”
It was Marchán who finally broke up the no-hitter in the sixth inning, punching a single through the right side of the infield. It was the first in a parade of five consecutive hits off lefty reliever Justin Wrobleski, which suddenly turned that 4-0 deficit into a 5-4 lead.
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Consecutive singles from Harrison Bader and Kyle Schwarber loaded the bases before Harper connected on a slider at the bottom of the zone for a double that scored two. Marsh followed it up with just his second homer of the year off a left-handed pitcher. He quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count, but sent a slider over the right field wall for a three-run shot.
That was the end of the night for Wrobleski. Max Kepler added some needed insurance off Edgardo Henriquez with a towering solo shot to give the Phillies a 6-4 lead.
“Looked like we were kind of dead in the water,” Thomson said. “And all of a sudden, big sixth inning with Marsh home run and Kepler home run.”
Los Angeles tied it against the Phillies bullpen in the eighth. David Robertson surrendered Ohtani’s 50th home run of the year and allowed a double to Teoscar Hernández. Tanner Banks took over and loaded the bases with a walk and a single. He limited the damage to one run after Call hit a sacrifice fly that evened things at 6.
With the Phillies down to their final out in the ninth, it seemed like Ohtani, who was due up third in the bottom of the inning, might get a prime chance to walk it off. But Weston Wilson roped a double to left field to give them new life. Treinen then fell behind in the count to Bryson Stott, and intentionally walked him to face Marchán.
And that’s when the backup catcher had his moment.
A 1-2-3 bottom of the inning from Jhoan Duran sealed it. Duran induced a groundout from Ohtani to close it out.
“Especially the last couple weeks, we’ve been playing really good baseball,” Marchán said. “It’s pretty exciting what we’ve been doing.”