Otto Eroticism: Phillies 4, Cubs 3

Otto Kemp’s three hits lead the way as Brandon Marsh walks it off.

The Phillies utilized a little small ball to finally end their five-game losing streak by walking off the Cubs in 11 innings by a final score of 4-3. Otto Kemp collected three hits, including his first MLB knock and the second of a pair of bunt singles in the 11th to load the bases. Brandon Marsh then promptly hit the second pitch he saw to the wall to score the winning run.

The late heroics made sure not to waste a strong start from a returning Zack Wheeler who allowed one run in six innings and became the fastest player to reach 1,000 career strikeouts with the Phillies.

Bunt, bunt, buntadelphia

Philadelphia entered the 11th down 3-2 after Pete-Crow Armstrong doubled in the ghost runner off of Carlos Hernandez in the top half of the inning. The Phillies had a chance to walk it off in the tenth as they had two on with nobody out after Jordan Romano stranded the ghost runner in the top half of the inning, but Alec Bohm grounded into the fourth double play of the night and Nick Castellanos grounded out to third to end the inning.

J.T. Relamuto singled to start the bottom of the 11th to score ghost runner Castellanos and re-tie the game at 3-3. It was the second time Realmuto tied the game, as an RBI force out in the fourth tied the game at 1-1.

Bryson Stott followed that up with a bunt single to put two on with nobody out. Kemp followed with yet another bunt single, his third hit of the day, to load the bases. That made the Cubs elect to bring Ian Happ in from the outfield to be an extra infielder, forcing the Phillies to have to put a ball out of the infield to drive in the winning run.

And that’s exactly what Marsh did, as he hammered the second pitch he saw from Daniel Palencia to the base of the wall in center field at 105 MPH exit velocity.

You can do it Otto

Otto Kemp collected his first MLB hit in the fifth with a 105 MPH single into center field.

Kemp then advanced to third on a throwing error from pitcher Matthew Boyd before Weston Wilson drove him in with a single that dropped in front of Kyle Tucker in right field. The base hit snapped an 0-16 for Wilson and gave the Phillies a then 2-1 lead.

Winning cures all?

Marsh’s heroics and the bunting prowess of Stott and Kemp helped make up for another frustrating night from the Phillies offense. They out-hit the Cubs 16-5 for the game and 12 to 4 in the first nine innings, but the Phillies still managed to strand 12 runners on base and finished the night 5-16 with runners in scoring position. They had just one extra base hit, which was a leadoff double from Castellanos in the sixth and he was stranded there.

The Phillies offense grounded into four double plays, including an inning ending one from Edmundo Sosa in the fourth with the bases loaded and the aforementioned Bohm GIDP in the tenth. To compound this, they also made three outs on the bases, with Trea Turner being picked off first after a single in the third, Sosa being thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double in the second, and Castellanos doing the same in the eighth.

Zack 1K

Zack Wheeler’s return from paternity leave got off to a shaky start, as he allowed a mammoth home run to Kyle Tucker in the first inning to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. But Wheeler settled in nicely after that, as he didn’t allow another hit until Matt Shaw singled in the fifth. Wheeler even got a little bit of revenge against Tucker, as he struck him out to begin the sixth inning for his 1,00th career strikeout as a member of the Phillies.

He’s the tenth player in franchise history and the fastest to accomplish the feat. Wheeler ended his night with 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, and 7 Ks on 103 pitches.

Still a little shaky

Tanner Banks took over for Wheeler and threw a clean seventh inning with the Phillies leading 2-1. But Matt Strahm allowed a home run to Ian Happ in a full count that tied the game at 2-2. It was the third home run Strahm has allowed this season in 27.1 IP.

Strahm then walked Tucker before getting Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong to line out to end the inning. Orion Kerkering pitched around a two-out walk to throw up a scoreless ninth inning. Romano entered in the tenth and was able to strand the ghost runner to give the Phillies a chance to win it there, but Carlos Hernandez was forced to pitch the eleventh where he allowed the ghost runner to score but nothing else.

Tomorrow’s matchup

The Phillies will go for their first series win since May 29th in Atlanta as they send Mick Abel (1-0, 0.79) to the mound to face off against Colin Rea (4-2, 3.59) of the Cubs. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 PM.