Bryson Stott hit a grand slam, J.T. Realmuto homered and doubled and the host Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Miami Marlins 7-1 to sweep their National League wild-card series on Wednesday.
After taking the best-of-three set against Miami in two games, the Phillies advance to meet the major-league-best Braves in the NL Division Series. Game 1 will be played on Saturday in Atlanta.
Stott, whose sixth-inning blast put Philadelphia up 7-0, said in a postgame interview on ESPN, “My body, I can’t really feel it right now. This crowd is insane. I was running around the bases and I couldn’t feel myself.”
Kyle Schwarber added an RBI double, and Trea Turner had two hits and an RBI for Philadelphia.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola (1-0) tossed seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and one walk while striking out three.
Josh Bell hit an RBI single in the ninth inning to produce the Marlins’ lone run.
Miami starter Braxton Garrett (0-1) lasted only three innings and allowed three hits and two runs with five strikeouts and one walk.
Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said of his players, “I think those guys are now understanding what winning looks like and should look like. It was a really fun year.”
Realmuto doubled to right with one out in the second, but Nick Castellanos flied out to center on the next pitch and then Garrett struck out Stott looking.
Miami registered its first hit with one out in the third as Jon Berti ripped a liner into left-center. The ball caromed off the end of left fielder Cristian Pache’s glove yet was ruled a double. Berti was picked off by Nola trying to steal third.
The Phillies went ahead 2-0 in the third. Pache walked, Schwarber hit a one-out RBI double into the right field corner and Turner followed with an RBI single that ricocheted off Garrett.
In the fourth, the Phillies took a 3-0 advantage when Realmuto crushed a solo homer to left off David Robertson.
The Marlins placed runners at first and second with one out in the fifth, but Jesus Sanchez grounded into a 6-3 double play to end the threat.
Berti was hit a pitch to open the sixth before Jacob Stallings grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
The Phillies broke the game open in the sixth when Stott smashed a grand slam to right off Andrew Nardi for a 7-0 lead. Stott joined Shane Victorino as the only two Phillies to connect on a grand slam in the postseason. Victorino’s grand slam came in Game 2 of the 2008 NLDS.
–Field Level Media
