ST. LOUIS — Coming off a series losing streak for the first time since the first week after the All-Star break, the Phillies defeated the Cardinals on Saturday night to claim the series victory and inch closer to securing the Wild atop the National League. card spot.
The Phils are 81-67 with 14 games remaining. They have a three-game lead over the Cubs in the loss column and a head-to-head tiebreaker for the first wild-card spot.
In Saturday’s game, Trey Turner’s double and Alec Bohm’s RBI led the first four batters. The Phillies scored four points in the first inning on Friday and held that lead the rest of the way, albeit by a narrow margin, but are still trailing in the series.
Saturday’s 6-1 win was much easier. Kyle Schwarber helped extend the lead to four runs in the fifth inning with a line drive three-run homer into the right field seats, and was scoreless, going 0-for-16 with 12 strikeouts.
“Finally,” he said. “It was good to finally get out for a little while. Especially with two outs or less and a runner in scoring position, we were able to score.”
Schwarber hit a maximum of 44 home runs and 97 RBIs this season. His first RBI for Boehm was his 90th of the season. The Phillies have three players with at least 90 RBIs: Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and Bohm. The only other MLB teams with at least three 90 RBI players are the Braves and Dodgers.
The fifth inning rally began with back-to-back singles to right field by No. 8 and No. 9 batters Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas. Marsh has been an on-base machine this season (.374 OBP), and Rojas has exceeded expectations offensively with a batting average of .298 and an OBP of .344 in 127 at-bats. He has had multiple hits in three of the past four games. There is no doubt that Rojas is already one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball based on traditional metrics, advanced metrics, and eye tests. If he can handle cooking well, he should take care.
“It was a really great, really professional at-bat,” manager Rob Thomson said of Rojas. “He’s not chasing that much. Even the (seventh inning) bunt, just smart, he’s trying to add on. He’s learning and our player development guys are teaching him the game and the game. “He did a great job teaching us the basics. “He was just great. He made some catches tonight, but I don’t know if anyone else will.”
Rojas’ excellent first step and reaction time were on display at least three times Saturday night. Although he was reversed a bit, he calmly started the bottom of the first inning with a deep line drive that went over Tommy Edman’s head. He could have been a triple for an average center fielder. After one inning with two Cardinals, Rojas cut in, caught a shallow shot from Jordan Walker and hit it to center field. In the 6th inning, Luken Baker hit a line drive deep to right-center field, and Rojas sprinted to the left to corral it. Edman and Baker’s batting averages were projected to be .550 and .610.
Ranger Suarez got off to a strong start for the second straight game. In his last appearance, he pitched a no-hitter through seven innings and had a career-high 10 strikeouts for the Marlins. In Saturday’s game at Busch Stadium, he held the Cardinals to just one run in six innings.
“I think it was the first quality start in a while and we needed it,” Thomson said. “This is big because he hasn’t been hitting a lot of length lately. This is probably the first of a series of pitches. He’s been pitching really well the last few innings.”
With two weeks until the playoffs, Suarez is pitching like one of the Phillies’ top two starting pitchers. Aaron Nola hasn’t completed five innings in his third consecutive start, Taijuan Walker has allowed 19 runs and 16 walks in his final 26 innings, and Michael Lorenzen was moved to the bullpen on Saturday.
Suarez has started 17 games since May 30 and has a 3.16 ERA. He’s been better than any Phillies starting pitcher other than Zach Wheeler these days. He’s also probably fresher than the rest of the rotation, having missed two months this season with forearm and elbow injuries and another with a hamstring strain.
“That’s what happens sometimes. Injuries happen, and you have to work through injuries, so sometimes that’s a blessing in disguise,” Thomson said.
Suarez agreed.
“I know I missed almost two months, so I want to get that back,” he said. “Whether it’s tomorrow, in a week, in two weeks, in the postseason, whatever we have to do to make up for it, I’m ready.”
The Phils have one game remaining against the Cardinals, three games in Atlanta, a seven-game homestand against the Mets and Pirates, and one final road series at Citi Field to conclude the 2023 regular season.
Walker will pitch in Sunday’s series finale at 1:15 p.m. ET. The Phils will face Dakota Hudson, a right-handed sinkerballer who, like Saturday’s opponent Miles Mikolas, doesn’t miss the plate.
“There were some tough losses at home, but there were a lot of fights and we never got out of it,” Schwarber said of the Phillies after losing five of seven games in their previous homestand. talked about the response. “There were some positives to take from this game. We went into the game and were able to take care of business in the first two games and we’ll take care of business tomorrow.”
