Zack Wheeler pitched six strong innings and Kyle Schwarber drove in two runs as the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their fifth straight postseason berth with a 7-3 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa homered for Philadelphia (88-74), which had lost its previous four games by the combined score of 23-3. The Phillies finally showed signs of life in Game 162, and now they’ll head to Atlanta to face the Braves in the National League wild-card round.
Tampa Bay (98-64), which clinched the top seed in the American League playoffs before even arriving in Philadelphia, will face the winner of the first-round series between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
Nick Martinez (15-6) got the start for the Rays and allowed four runs and seven hits in 2 2/3 innings. Jonny DeLuca was the offensive star for Tampa Bay with a pair of home runs, giving him 11 on the season.
Wheeler (14-5) yielded one run and five hits, striking out five without a walk. Bryson Stott went 3-for-3 for the Phillies.
Philadelphia quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead as Schwarber singled with one out in the first inning and scored on Stott’s two-out double.
The Phillies scored three more two-out runs in the second inning. J.T. Realmuto’s RBI double snapped an 0-for-34 slump and made it 2-0. Trea Turner followed with a single and Schwarber knocked in two runs with a double off the wall in right field.
Meanwhile, Wheeler held the Rays scoreless until DeLuca led off the fifth with a homer.
Harper immediately got that run back with a leadoff blast in the bottom half. Stott followed with a double and came around to score on Brandon Marsh’s sacrifice fly. Sosa tacked on an opposite-field solo shot on the very next pitch to make it 7-1.
Alex McFarlane took over for Wheeler to start the seventh and gave up an opposite-field solo homer to DeLuca, as well as an RBI hit by Victor Mesa Jr. later in the frame.
Jesus Luzardo, typically a key member of the Philadelphia rotation, pitched the eighth after missing the last three weeks with a sore shoulder. He needed only four pitches to record three outs.
Jhoan Duran retired the Rays in order in the ninth, sparking a subdued on-field celebration by the Phillies.
–Field Level Media
