Eight innings, nothing
Eight innings. Zero runs. Philadelphia had produced absolutely nothing against St. Louis.
Then came the ninth.
Two outs were already on the board when Edmundo Sosa ripped a three-run double into the gap and Citizens Bank Park finally found its voice. Bryan De La Cruz singled to left to tie it. Kyle Schwarber walked up and put one on the batter’s eye in centre field. 6-4. Nine wins in a row.
It was the first walk-off homer this club has hit in over three years.
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Sanchez was not the reason they won
Cristopher Sanchez, the arm this rotation leans on, coughed up four runs on nine hits across six and two-thirds. He kept them in it, barely, and that is about the kindest reading available.
Kyle Leahy and four Cardinals relievers had been close to flawless, eight shutout innings between them. Then Riley O’Brien came on and the whole thing came apart in about ten minutes. He wears the loss and falls to 3-5.
Alec Burleson drove in two for St. Louis and Jose Fermin went deep. The Cardinals close their longest road trip of the year at 5-6, which is a hard way to fly home.
The wild-card math looks different tonight
Nine straight in late August is not a hot streak, it is a statement about where this team thinks it is going. The National League wild-card race is tightening and Philadelphia keeps taking pieces of it.
Schwarber has been running this script since 2022. Strikeouts, homers, and one swing that turns a dead night into a highlight reel. St. Louis heads home. The Phillies look at the standings a little differently.
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