PHILADELPHIA – Matt Vierling had a two-out, green light to steal and slid head-first so ferociously into second base that his helmet about tumbled into the outfield. That set the moment for Rhys Hoskins, who through 571 career games and 2,065 at-bats had never won a game for the Phillies on the final swing of the night.
“I found myself in those situations in the past and come up short,” Hoskins said. “Either try and do too much or maybe be a little bit too passive. I was just trying to get a pitch to hit.”
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Hoskins found one, ripped a slider to left-center and raised his arms in celebration on his game-ending RBI double in the ninth inning that led Philadelphia over the Miami Marlins 3-2 Monday night.
“It's the best. The best,” Hoskins said.
His two-out hit off Anthony Bass (1-3) scored Vierling and capped a Phillies rally from a 2-1 hole in the seventh. Vierling hit a one-out single and stole second base to get into scoring position.
“I think it put us in a good spot to win that game,” Vierling said. “It ended up working out.”
Sure did. The Phillies have won 10 of 11 games to streak into NL wild-card contention and rebounded from a 13-1 loss to Arizona a day earlier. The Phillies opened a stretch of seven straight games against NL East teams.
“It's big to come back and win right away and maybe we'll get on a little bit of a roll here,” interim manager Rob Thomson said. “I talked to the guys before the game that we need to start winning games in our division.”
Seranthony Dominguez (4-1) tossed a scoreless ninth for the win.
The Marlins have won the season series against the Phillies each of the last three years and had already won three of four this season. Sandy Alcantara was on the hill and in control until the eighth. He walked two runners to open the inning but got slumping catcher J.T. Realmuto to ground into a double play.
Alcantara, who snapped a streak of six straight starts of seven innings and one earned run or fewer, was yanked and repeatedly slammed his mitt and sent water bottles flying in the dugout.
“Just got a little angry because I just wanted to finish that inning,” Alcantara said.
Steven Okert promptly gave up a tying single on the first pitch to Didi Gregorius. Alcantara sat on the dugout bench and shook his head in disbelief — his shot at his fifth straight win wasted by wildness and the bullpen.
“He got us to a good spot in the game. A great spot in the game,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Just couldn’t finish it. Never really want to take Sandy out. At that point, we felt it was the best thing. He walked two guys in the inning. It looked like he was kind of out of gas the way he was forcing some stuff.”
Alcantara, who hit 100.5 mph on a ball to Bryson Stott in the sixth, allowed no runs in his previous two starts and 20 straight innings overall until Bryce Harper’s RBI double in the third.
He struck out five, walked three and gave up six hits in 7 2/3 innings against the Phillies.
Jon Berti and Miguel Rojas had back-to-back doubles in the fifth that tied it at 1. Berti singled off Phillies starter Aaron Nola in the seventh and Rojas lined another RBI double for the 2-1 lead.
Nola walked none and struck out six over seven innings.
Nola watched the end of the game from the clubhouse kitchen. With a gutsy steal and a super swing, Nola greeted the celebratory swell of players in the clubhouse following the Phillies' third walk-off win of the season.
“When Rhys comes up, anything can happen,” Nola said.
OCHOCINCO
Former NFL receiver Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson attended the Phillies game and posed for a picture with Harper. Ochocinco is in Philadelphia for the next two months training with boxer Jaron Ennis. He wore Phillies gear and tweeted, “did y’all know you can order food from your seats at baseball games?”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: 1B Garrett Cooper reinstated from COVID-19 IL. ... RHP Aneurys Zabala designated for assignment. ... RF Avisaíl García sat out with left hand inflammation.
Phillies: Selected the contract of RHP Michael Kelly from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and designated RHP James Norwood for assignment. C Rafael Marchán was reinstated from the 60-day IL and optioned to Lehigh Valley.
HE SAID IT
“Kids don’t tell their dads anything,” — Mattingly, on how son Preston is handing his new job as Phillies director of player development.
UP NEXT
The Marlins send LHP Trevor Rogers (3-5, 5.58 ERA) to the mound against Philadelphia RHP Zach Eflin (2-4, 3.76 ERA).
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