JT Realmuto’s RBI double in the top of the eighth inning on Sunday snapped a 1-1 tie and lifted the visiting Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres.
Bryce Harper started the winning rally by grounding a one-out double down the left-field line against Adrian Morejon (7-4). David Morgan then came on in relief and fanned Nick Castellanos but fell behind Realmuto 3-1 before hanging a slider that Realmuto drilled to the wall in left-center.
Cristopher Sanchez (8-2) earned the win by pitching 7 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and one run while walking three and striking out six. Orion Kerkering got the last two outs of the eighth, and Matt Strahm pitched the ninth for his sixth save.
Strahm worked around a leadoff walk to pinch-hitter Jake Cronenworth, who moved to second on Bryce Johnson’s bunt. Following a two-out intentional walk to Fernando Tatis Jr., Strahm induced a fly-out from Luis Arraez to end the game.
San Diego starter Nick Pivetta was dominant in 6 2/3 innings of work, yielding only three hits and an unearned run with two walks and eight strikeouts. Pivetta has permitted just one earned run in his last four starts, covering 25 1/3 innings.
Two errors allowed Philadelphia to take a 1-0 lead in the first. After Harper coaxed a two-out walk, Castellanos reached via a throwing error by third baseman Manny Machado. After Realmuto legged out an infield single, Arraez made a high throw to Pivetta covering first on Bryson Stott’s grounder, allowing Harper to score.
Sanchez nursed the lead until the sixth, when the Padres tied it. Machado and Xander Bogaerts led off with singles, and both advanced on a Jackson Merrill bunt. Jose Iglesias drove in Machado with a single off Stott’s glove at second, but Sanchez induced a double-play grounder from Luis Campusano to keep the game even.
San Diego loaded the bases with two outs in the first on a Tatis single, followed by two-out walks to Bogaerts and Merrill. However, Sanchez used three changeups to strike out Iglesias and quash the threat.
–Field Level Media
