Phils seek to clinch NL wild card series tonight after winning Game 1

The Phillies had a decisive start to Red October on Tuesday night as they beat the Miami Marlins 4-1 in front of a loud and loyal home crowd.

The Phils will face the Marlins again at 8 tonight. If they win the second game of the best-of-three wild card series, Philadelphia will continue its post-season run and move on to the National League Division Series.

It only took the Phillies three innings to score with the game’s first run last night, coming from an Alec Bohm double in the bottom of the third inning.

All night long, Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler was dealing from the mound. Wheeler threw eight strikeouts in seven innings while only giving up one run. There were multiple efforts from the Phillies’ bullpen in the eighth and ninth innings, from pitchers Jose Alverado, Jeff Hoffman, and Craig Kimbrel, who pitched the save for the Phillies last night. 

It took the Marlins’ offense a long time to get into a flow state during yesterday’s game. A big part of that reason was because of the fans. ESPN play-by-play announcer David Cone gave the ecstatic Philly crowd a nod last night, stating that the Phillies have the best home field advantage in baseball because of their loyal and disruptive fans who shows up for every game the Phillies play in Citizens Bank Park. 

All around, it was a great game for the Phillies team, staff, and fans, but the best part of the night was Bryce Harper’s electric base running. After a Nick Castellanos double into left field, Harper took over the game with a sprint from first base to home plate. Harper ran right past the Phillies’ third base coach, Dusty Wathan, who was telling Harper to stop at third, and ran into the night, beating the throw to home while hyping up the Philadelphia crowd in the process. Although Harper did not have the best game from a hitting standpoint (1-4 on hits, 2 strikeouts), he was able to affect the game from a different angle, which helped the Phillies edge out the Marlins. 

If the Phillies close out the Wild Card series against the Marlins tonight, they face a much tougher series against the one-seeded Atlanta Braves in the second round.