Alec Bohm ended a long Thursday for the Phillies the same way he helped rescue it, lifting a walk-off sacrifice fly to center field in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 6-5 win over the Giants in the second game of a doubleheader. It gave Philadelphia two walk-off victories in one day and a sweep that the club had not pulled off since July 24, 1998, against the Marlins.
Bohm had already saved the game on the other side of the ball. In the top of the 10th, he made a diving catch at third base to rob Luis Arráez and help strand the go-ahead runner at third. The play kept the Giants from taking control before Bohm stepped to the plate in the bottom half and delivered again.
Chase Shugart earned both wins for Philadelphia, a rare double for a reliever on the same day. He entered the first game with two outs in the top of the ninth and struck out Matt Chapman on four pitches to close out that victory, then allowed a leadoff single to center in the 10th inning of the second game before the Phillies recovered. Shugart had four wins in his major league career before Thursday and finished with six.
The final swing fit the night. Bohm started Thursday carrying a.151 batting average and a.426 OPS through 29 games, and he had been dropped to sixth in the Phillies’ order after being a mainstay in the cleanup spot last year. Kyle Schwarber said Bohm was going to keep battling, and he added that when the season is over, the numbers on the back of the baseball card will look good. Bohm, in turn, said those are the kind of players a team wants around and called Shugart the sort of pitcher you want to battle with after taking the ball twice in one day and getting two wins.
That is what made the night more than a tidy box score. The Phillies were trying to navigate the second game as a bullpen contest, and there was even a hope to avoid using Shugart if possible, but the game kept demanding more. Philadelphia also got a first-inning burst from Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, who went back-to-back, pushing Schwarber to the 350th home run of his career. The rest was left to a team that kept finding answers in the tightest moments.
For the Phillies, this was not just a sweep. It was a reminder that even on a day built around pitching plans and lineup questions, phillies baseball can still turn on one defender, one out, and one swing in the 10th inning.
