Phillies finally get to Sandy Alcantara, defeat the Marlins in rousing, 4-3 comeback victory

The unstoppable force met the formidable ace Wednesday night.

Guess who won.

It’s an ages-old baseball proverb that great pitching beats hot hitting, and for seven innings, that couldn’t have been more true. Sandy Alcantara, the Miami Marlins’ brilliant right-hander, barely broke a sweat in setting down the Phillies, who in the last two weeks have averaged nearly a half-dozen runs per game.

But the Phillies are on their best roll since 2011. (Don’t believe us? Keep reading.) So, after picking up two hits through seven innings, they strung together four consecutive hits, then added back-to-back two-out singles in a three-run eighth to steal a rousing 4-3 victory.

“Look, that’s what it’s going to be like if we get to the postseason,” said Kyle Schwarber, who tied the game with a single and scored the go-ahead run. “It’s good pitching in the postseason, and that’s a good pitcher out there. We showed tonight that we’re capable of doing things like that.”

How improbable was this? Look no further than Schwarber, a seasoned veteran who has been to the postseason in all but one season of his career. But after surviving an ill-advised first-to-third dash on Alec Bohm’s single to right field and scoring on J.T. Realmuto’s single, he pumped his fist and yelled as he crossed home plate and 23,021 fans at Citizens Bank Park made enough noise for 43,021.

Make it seven straight wins -- and 12 in 13 games -- for the Phillies, who are 40-19 under interim manager Rob Thomson. They’ve won 41 of 60 games overall. The last time they did that: 2011, when they finished with a franchise-record 102 wins and, oh yeah, made the playoffs.

Remember the playoffs? After 10 years, they’re finally coming into focus. Entering the game, Baseball-Reference.com gave the Phillies a 91.8% chance of reaching the postseason.

None other than Jimmy Rollins got caught up in the emotion of the eighth inning. He chimed in during the eighth inning on social media — “This @Phillies team has IT!! It has taken some@time but they are here to WIN!!” he tweeted — and challenged fans to start filling the ballpark, like in the good, old days.

Alcantara is the Cy Young Award front-runner in the National League. He also is the appetizer for Friday and Saturday nights in New York, where the Phillies will face Mets aces Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

But Alcantara’s ERA ballooned to 2.01 after the big eighth inning, which began with Jean Segura’s harmless 75-foot dribbler that stayed fair along the third-base line. Rookie shortstop Bryson Stott, who had two of the best at-bats of the game against Alcantara, followed with a single up the middle, and the Phillies were cooking like Guy Fieri.

“These are playoff games, and we’re going to face pitchers like that every night once we get to the playoffs,” Realmuto said. “We just have to do what we do, grind out our at-bats. It’s not always going to be easy when you’re facing good pitching like that, but we’ve just got to grind ‘em out.”

Like when Brandon Marsh couldn’t get down two bunt attempts but lined an 0-2 pitch up the middle for an RBI single that cut the Marlins’ lead to 3-2. Or when Schwarber dumped a single to right field to tie the game.

» READ MORE: Rob Thomson’s turnaround of the Phillies has him in the middle of the manager of the year race

Marsh got doubled off third base on Rhys Hoskins’ broken-bat line drive to shortstop. But Bohm and Realmuto delivered two-out knocks before Seranthony Domínguez closed out a game that ranks with the Phillies’ best 2022 victories.

It was right up there with rallying to beat Josh Hader in the ninth inning in Milwaukee on June 7 and Stott’s walk-off homer after Bryce Harper’s grand slam against the Angels on June 5.

“What Schwarber did to arguably the best pitcher in game right now is super impressive,” said starter Noah Syndergaard, a newcomer to this after being acquired in a deadline trade last week. “It was super exciting. I’m still trying to process all of it.”

» READ MORE: Phillies will take what they can get from Noah Syndergaard with the Big Three intact and looming

In keeping with his mid-career evolution from a flamethrower to a sinkerballer, and in tandem with the Phillies’ pitching braintrust, Syndergaard deployed his pitches differently in his second start since coming over in a deadline trade.

He unleashed primarily sliders and sinkers at a 39% and 34% rate, respectively, up from 27.3% and 19.5% for the season. In turn, he threw far fewer four-seam fastballs (6%, down from 20.1% overall) and changeups (9%, down from 22.9%).

“[Pitching coach] Caleb [Cotham] and I got to work a lot between starts this time and made quite a bit of adjustments, especially on my slider and my delivery,” said Syndergaard, who allowed two runs on six hits and two walks in six innings. “It was definitely one to build off of.”

By most metrics, Nick Castellanos rates among the worst defensive outfielders in the majors. But he saved a run in the first inning.

Castellanos ran down Miguel Rojas’ line drive to the gap in right-center field, then doubled off Joey Wendle at first base. It marked his second sparkling play behind Syndergaard. Last Thursday, he cut down a run at the plate in a rain-shortened victory over the Nationals.

» READ MORE: Rob Thomson responds to Mets announcer Keith Hernandez’s criticism of Phillies defense

Play was interrupted three times in four innings for replay reviews, one of which took away the Phillies’ first hit against Alcantara and another that credited them with an infield single.

In the third inning, the Marlins challenged the on-field ruling that Segura beat out a single to first base. The replay showed he was out by a half-step. In the fourth, Schwarber was awarded a single after being called out on a grounder to third base.

The Phillies lost a fourth-inning challenge when they alleged that Charles Leblanc didn’t touch second base before retreating to first on a flyout.

» READ MORE: How Rob Thomson’s unconventional strategy has helped turn around the Phillies’ bullpen