Phillies rally in the 8th for 4-2 win over Brewers as bats finally wake up in the clutch

The moment for the Phillies to strike came in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday night. Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, and J.T. Realmuto all knocked in singles to load the bases for Kyle Schwarber with no outs. But Schwarber struck out, and it seemed like an all-too-familiar pattern was about to set in. Until the next at-bat.

Alec Bohm came up with another clutch hit, crushing a four-seam fastball to right field that scored both Harper and Castellanos. And then, in the at-bat after that, Johan Camargo followed Bohm with a hard-hit single of his own, driving in Realmuto to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead.

“It’s just refusing to make an out, refusing to strike out,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I think Harper had two strikes, Bohm had two strikes. It’s just that refusal to not keep fighting. They kept fighting.”

The Phillies have struggled to capitalize with runners in scoring position throughout their first 13 games of the season, so Friday’s 4-2 win over the Brewers, which was won by them doing exactly that, felt like somewhat of a breakthrough. They are now 6-8 on the season.

Bohm started his day by making a good defensive play in the first inning, a charging backhanded grab toward the third-base bag that probably saved the Phillies from giving up a couple of runs. He finished his day with the go-ahead two-RBI single. All in all, it was a pretty good night.

“It’s been eventful, for sure,” Bohm said. “But it’s been great. It’s been a lot of fun. I wish we could have won a few more games in that span, but we’re getting it going here, and we’re going to keep this momentum going.”

Friday’s hit was only the latest clutch hit for Bohm. In Wednesday’s game in Colorado, he hit a sac fly and a home run that accounted for three runs. He said on Friday that hitting with runners in scoring position is something that he’s had to refine over the course of his career.

“I think I’ve kind of learned throughout my career to really not try to do too much,” he said. “As hitters, we love over-swinging 2-0, 3-1; we love taking these big huge swings and coming up empty. And I think it’s just the guys that can really slow their mind down, and slow the game down, and put together an at-bat ... they keep it extremely simple. You get results that way, I think.”

Phillies left-handed pitcher Ranger Suárez found himself in some trouble early on Friday night against the Brewers. Suárez started the first inning by allowing a double and a single. Christian Yelich reached base on a fielder’s choice, which loaded the bases with no outs. But Suárez kept his calm. He struck out Hunter Renfroe, struck out Keston Hiura, and induced a groundout from Lorenzo Cain to end the first inning without allowing a run.

“The way the bullpen kept us in it, the way Ranger kept us in it ... things could have fallen apart in the first inning,” Bohm said. “But he did what Ranger does. No panic at all. Just kept making his pitches, and he got out of it.”

Suárez’s outing was solid from there on. His control wavered more than he would have liked it to — he allowed three walks over the next 3 2/3 innings — but he was able to hold the Brewers to three hits and one run over that span. He ended up finishing his night tossing 4 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, one earned run, the three walks, and four strikeouts.

Suárez has said in the past that in a normal regular-season game, he’ll start with the mindset of going deep (think seven, eight, or even nine innings). But because the lefty is coming off a shortened spring training, that was even shorter due to visa issues that caused him to arrive late to camp, he has had to be patient in ramping up his workload. Suárez went five innings in his previous outing, and just 2 2/3 in his outing before that. He threw 89 pitches on Friday; next outing, he’d like to get to 100 pitches.

The Phillies didn’t sign Nick Castellanos for his defense, but they certainly benefitted from it on Friday night. In the top of the third inning, Castellanos gunned a throw from right field to home plate that nearly arrived in time for J.T. Realmuto to tag out Willy Adames (and, to be fair, he could have been out, but Girardi didn’t challenge the call). Castellanos followed that up with a terrific sliding catch in the top of the fourth inning to rob Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez of a sure base hit.

“I thought he made an outstanding catch,” Girardi said. “I’d have to look at the play at the plate, but I thought he did a good job.”

Castellanos is filling in in right field for Bryce Harper, who is DHing as he continues to nurse his right elbow strain.

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