Marginal win but huge victory for Phillies, who even up series against Braves

Marginal win but huge victory for Phillies, who even up series against Braves originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ATLANTA — It wasn’t pretty … but boy, was it necessary.

The Phillies, by the skin of their teeth, pulled off a 3-2 win Wednesday night at Truist Park to even up the series against the Braves.

More importantly, the Phillies gave themselves just a bit of breathing room in the NL East as the gap between clubs went back to seven games. The two teams face each other four more times in the span of 11 days and it could very well come down to marginal wins, like this, that decide the division.

So, it may not have been their flashiest win of the season … but it was a big victory for a team who grinded out nine innings against — although heavily depleted — a good Braves team.

A victory that left manager Rob Thomson with this key statement in his office moments after: “That’s how you win a playoff game.”

There is always a ton of discourse surrounding Aaron Nola — but one thing is concrete — he is a workhorse. And win or lose, it’s never appreciated enough.

Even on a night where he wasn’t on his A-game (still at least a B-plus), Nola went 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits. Those two runs were scored on an Orlando Arcia home run — it is the 23rd Nola has given up this season.

More surprisingly was his strikeout-to-walk ratio. In his last two starts at this ballpark, Nola had a combined 16 strikeouts and zero walks. Tonight, he struck out five and walked two. Still, he did what was needed of him to keep the Phillies in it. As a result, they now only trail the Braves in the season series by one game (4-3).

“I think every win is important right now,” Nola said. “I feel like no lead is a big enough lead right now, especially with (the Braves). They’re always good, they always play us really good and it’s always a challenge when we play the Braves.

“We gotta take care of business tomorrow and try to win a series.”

Nola got out of an inning in order just once, by striking out the side in the fifth. Nola is at 159.1 innings pitched this season, which bumps him ahead of teammate Zack Wheeler for the second-most in the National League, only trailing San Francisco’s Logan Webb (172.2).

It took until the sixth inning for the Phillies to crack through and get to lefty Max Fried.

Edmundo Sosa singled, Johan Rojas doubled and suddenly, the Phillies had runners in scoring position for the first time. Kyle Schwarber grounded out to bring home Sosa and Rojas scored on a Trea Turner sac fly.

Brandon Marsh, who pinch hit for Rojas in the eighth, sent left fielder Jarred Kelenic to the warning track. It was more than enough to get Weston Wilson over the plate to give the Phillies the lead.

Wilson, with very limited plate appearances, seemingly finds a way to make an impact every time he starts. In the eighth, with right handed pitcher Joe Jimenez entering the game in place of Fried, Thomson could’ve made the call to bring in one of his lefties off the bench — but Wilson’s at bats have earned some trust from Topper.

“The at bats are so good that it’s hard to deny,” Thomson said. “I’ve just liked his at bats. Looks balanced, he looks comfortable, he looks poised, he uses the field.”

Austin Hays is currently with triple-A Lehigh Valley for a rehab stint due to a hamstring strain, though he could rejoin the Phillies as early as their weekend series in Kansas City. If that’s the case, and if Wilson continues the stretch he’s on, it’ll be interesting to see how Thomson navigates the outfielders moving forward.

Following Tuesday’s game, Bryce Harper joked that Whit Merrifield could end up with nine hits in this series. So far, he’s made it on base safely five times (three hits, two walks) in the first two games he’s played against his former team. But that’s usually how baseball goes.

The game ended with Merrifield grounding out to Harper — but it was far from a routine play. Harper had to reach for a ball with some serious spin to secure the win with a little dramatic flair.

And it was certainly more dramatic than a copy-cat playoff stare down in a random game in August, that’s for sure.

(If you know, you know … if you don’t … here.)

On deck: Cristopher Sanchez (9-8, 3.46 ERA) and the Phillies look to even up the season series against the Braves Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. They’ll face Spencer Schwellenbach (4-6, 4.04 ERA) for the second time this season.

The club then heads to Kansas City, where they’ll run the rotation of Taijuan Walker, Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler. Suarez is expected to make his return from the injured list after dealing with back spasms. He has missed just over four weeks, having last pitched July 22. The hope is the time off will have been a reset for Suarez heading into the final stretch of the season. Thomson noted Suarez will have a pitch limit in his return. For what it’s worth, he threw a combined 77 pitches in a simulated game last Saturday, where he got his velocity up to 91.