Phillies seek resurgence after slow start to 2023 MLB season
We spoke with Dave Dombrowski, Josh Harrison and Rob Thomson about what the Phillies need to do to improve this season.
Sports Pulse
The Philadelphia Phillies road winning streak lives on following a clutch pinch-hit homer from Cristian Pache.
Philadelphia rallied late in the ninth inning to beat the Miami Marlins 4-3 on Friday at LoanDepot Park to give the Phillies their 13th consecutive road win, tying the franchise’s record set in 1976. The team has Pache to thank.
With the Phillies trailing 3-2 in the top of the ninth, the 24-year-old hit a two-run blast to center field off Marlins closer A. J. Puk to take the lead. It marked Pache’s first career pinch-hit home run.
“Back in Tampa I told the boys, ‘When I hit the ball out of the park in Miami, I’m going to jump and have fun,’” Pache said. “And look at that. In my first at-bat I actually hit it out of the park.”
Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto first got Philadelphia on the board with a homer off Marlins starter Sandy Alcántara in the top of the sixth.
Miami entered the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead, but Realmuto hit a leadoff single off Puk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and was batted in by third baseman Alec Bohm’s double. Pinch-hitter Josh Harrison struck out for the second out of the inning before Pache stepped up to the plate.
The rest is history.
The Phillies are coming off a series sweep of the AL leading Tampa Bay Rays in Florida. Philadelphia is 48-39 entering Saturday. The Phillies are 1.5 games behind the Marlins and 11 games behind the Atalanta Braves in the NL East, but they are in position to be the third wild-card team.
The Phillies and Marlins face off Saturday afternoon for the second game of the series.
Contributing: The Associated Press
