The Phillies snagged the second game of the series and they've now officially won four games straight and eight of their last nine games! All of a sudden the Phillies are 17-20, pretty crazy turnaround so far!
Yesterday's game was entertaining too. The A's struck first and held a lead as late as the eighth inning, but it was just by a run. The Phillies stayed mentally strong. A's second baseman Jeff McNeil made a pretty critical fielding error that may have cost the A's the game. In what should have been a routine double play that would have secured two outs for the A's, Jeff McNeil simply threw the ball way off target when sending Bryce Harper's ground ball to the shortstop at second to start the play. But instead the A's get no outs and allow two men on base with just a measly one run lead.
The Phillies take advantage of this mistake and promptly single three consecutive times to a very similar part of the field, center field! Adolis García loads the bases with his hit (he already hit a solo homer in the sixth, his 4th), then Edmundo Sosa lands the first devastating blow to the A's. He singles and drives in both Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, giving the Phillies a 4-3 lead! Brandon Marsh then drives in Adolis García with his own single for a bit of insurance.
The A's loaded the bases in the ninth which was interesting as it was just a 6-3 game, but they couldn't execute in that moment unfortunately.
All in all the Phillies seem reborn in the past several games. This is their second four game winning streak in the past nine games. Pretty crazy! The A's just seem to be running in the Phillies at the wrong time. But the A's still played way better and could taste victory. For that I am pretty proud of them. Tyler Soderstrom hit his 5th homer.
Nick Kurtz of the A's is from pretty close to my neck of the woods in Pennsylvania. It's cool that he's gotten to play in his area of the world against his favorite team growing up in the Phillies. He apparently saw a lot of Phillies games growing up, so it must be crazy to play in the very stadium you used to visit.
I just kinda hope the A's don't get swept, but I feel ultimately neutral at whatever happens at the end of the day. I'm grateful my two teams barely see each other in the regular season.