The Philadelphia Phillies will look for their second victory in a row when they open a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.
The Phillies rallied for a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday to salvage their first win of the season.
Alec Bohm had two hits and two RBIs and Kyle Schwarber homered and singled. Bohm’s two-run single in the seventh inning snapped a 3-3 tie. Trea Turner also hit an RBI single for the Phillies, who were outscored 21-7 in the first two games.
“Same kind of story as years past,” Bohm said, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia. “We’re never out of a game. We have a really potent offense.”
The Phillies knocked the Braves out of the postseason the past two years.
Even though the season is so young, they didn’t want to start 0-3.
“You never want to get swept this early in the season,” Bohm said. “Obviously coming in, we had to get a win today.”
“Our guys battled, kept fighting and got it done,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson added.
After being given the day off Sunday, Bryce Harper is expected to be back in the lineup against the Reds.
Harper tumbled over the railing by the dugout in Saturday’s loss, but Thomson said that event was unrelated to this scheduled day off.
“We’re planning on him being available tomorrow,” Thomson said.
The Phillies will hand the ball to left-hander Cristopher Sanchez on Monday.
Sanchez is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in one career start against the Reds.
The Reds will arrive in Philadelphia after a thrilling 6-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Sunday.
The Reds scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and finished the game with back-to-back home runs by Will Benson and Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
Benson tied the score with a homer and Encarnacion-Strand crushed the walk-off shot. Encarnacion-Strand had been 0-for-12 before the home run with two outs.
“It’s definitely a good way to get on the board,” Encarnacion-Strand said during a postgame interview with Bally Sports. “Just gotta stick with the game plan regardless of the result. It happened to be a good one in that at-bat.”
Benson had three hits and three RBIs and Jake Fraley added three hits.
The Reds never panicked after falling behind and won two of three in the series.
“We’re gonna play every pitch,” Benson said. “We’re gonna play all the way to the end. … That’s the team motto that we built last year and carried over to this year. We’re gonna fight and play hard every single pitch.”
Before Benson and Encarnacion-Strand’s heroics, Jonathan India had a stellar at-bat against Kyle Finnegan. India fouled off five straight pitches before ripping a double down the left-field line on the 10th pitch.
“I was just battling,” India said. “I wanted it bad for my team. I wanted to get it for my team.”
Andrew Abbott is scheduled to start for the Reds on Monday. Abbott has never faced the Phillies in his brief career.
–Field Level Media
