PHILADELPHIA — There seemed to be a little more at stake Monday than in a normal Phillies’ regular-season game.
Interim manager Rob Thomson’s team was coming off of a 13-1 pasting by the Diamondbacks that halted the Phils’ nine-game win streak (eight of which came under Thomson) in which they didn’t hit, pitch or play defense well.
The Phillies’ offense had been productive during the streak, while the pitching — especially the bullpen — sparkled and the defense was consistently better than it had been in the first 50 games for Joe Girardi.
“It’s big to come back and win right away and maybe we get on a roll here,” Thomson said.
Plus, the Marlins have given the Phillies trouble in recent years, going 27-21 against the Fightins over the three previous seasons despite Miami only compiling a 155-229 record during that span. The Phils haven’t won the season series from the Marlins, who took three of four from Philly earlier this year in Miami, since 2018.
“We’ve struggled against Miami, as we all know,” said starting pitcher Aaron Nola. “They play us good all the time.”
Monday began a stretch of eight games in seven days for the Phillies, including a Friday doubleheader vs. the Nationals in Washington. All eight are against National League East rivals.
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They’re only 7-14 going into Tuesday vs. the NL East, having a 3-9 record against the Mets, as well as a 2-2 mark vs. the Braves and having gone 2-3 against the Marlins. The Phillies have yet to face the Nationals.
“We beat some teams — L.A. (the Angels) was kind of scuffling at the time and we fed off of that (in a three-game sweep),” Thomson said. “We beat a first-place team in Milwaukee (in another three-game sweep). I said we’ve got to start winning games in our division (because) that’s what good teams do. That (Monday is) a good start.”
The Phils’ 3-2 victory Monday at Citizens Bank Park moved them back above .500 (31-30) and three games out of the third and final National League wild-card spot.
In addition to topping the pesky Marlins, it erased the taste of Sunday’s putrid performance. Perhaps it was just a one-day issue and not an indication that they could be returning to previous bad habits.
The Phillies played error-free ball and received a solid, seven-inning outing from starter Aaron Nola, as well as 1-2-3 eighth and ninth innings from relievers Connor Brogdon and Seranthony Dominguez.
With Thomson giving Alec Bohm and the struggling Nick Castellanos the night off, the Phils’ offense faced a difficult task against the excellent Sandy Alcantara, who limited them to six hits and two runs in 7⅔ innings. He’s 6-2 this season with a 1.68 ERA.
Matt Vierling set the stage for first baseman Rhys Hoskins in the ninth with a broken-bat single and two-out stolen base. All that remained was for Hoskins to swat his first MLB walk-off hit and be showered with water buckets by Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott.
“I think it’s important to get a win after breaking the streak that we had — just to keep the momentum,” Hoskins said. “But I think, more importantly, (it was) in division and against a guy (Alcantara) we knew was going to be a grind.”
“We kind of put that one behind us yesterday and now we’re on the right track,” Vierling said.
The Phillies are going to have to find ways to prevail in close games if they plan on reaching the postseason. Monday’s victory was just their sixth in one-run contests this year, compared to 10 losses.
Still, there were numerous reasons to be encouraged based on what happened in the series opener against the Marlins.
Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes; @TomMoorePhilly
