It’s MLB Players’ Weekend, but Phillies fans were treated on Friday night with extra innings and a walk-off win.
Alec Bohm, who entered Friday’s game with a .288 batting average with runners on base, hit a walk-off two-run triple in the bottom of the 10th to extend the Phillies’ longest win streak of the season with a 7-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Their seventh straight win is the most since a nine-game streak in May 2025. It was the Phillies’ 11th extra-inning game this season.
The last time the Phillies lost, it was to the Cardinals after dropping two of three in St. Louis between Aug. 10-12. They now trail the first-place Braves by four games in the National League East.
With runners at first and third, interim manager Don Mattingly said he felt pretty confident in Bohm at the plate.
“The way he’s going, yeah, fairly confident when he’s up there,” Mattingly said “I mean, obviously, right now he’s going good, and he’s a collector, he collects those RBIs.”
Bohm, who has 74 RBIs this season, has felt a similar confidence at the plate lately. Bohm’s batting average jumped from .226 in July to .351 in August.
“I mean it’s definitely easier to just be a little more relaxed in there and just not try to do too much and just be a little more disciplined and a little more patient,” Bohm said. “All those things I think come a little bit easier when you’ve seen some success recently and you’re not chasing results and all those things.”
In St. Louis, the Phillies’ only win that series came against Hunter Dobbins, who was on the mound for the Cardinals on Friday. He exited the game in the fifth inning with right forearm tightness.
Also keeping a streak alive was Bryce Harper, who walked in his first plate appearance to extend his on-base streak to 24 games. But Harper finished the game hitless.
For the first time since June 5, Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo allowed more than two runs and surrendered multiple home runs. Luzardo struggled with a 25-pitch second inning, before inducing a fly ball from JJ Wetherholt to get out of a jam. He retired the next nine batters from the third through fifth inning. Then he gave up three hits and two runs in the sixth inning.
Mattingly said he thought Luzardo seemed “amped up” early in the game. Luzardo said he felt more “out of whack” than amped, stating that he felt he was throwing his best fastball and changeup of the season, but his sweeper was lacking.
Home Run Derby champion Jordan Walker upset Phillies fans with a single swing in that inning. Walker hit a two-run home run to retake the lead 4-3. Luzardo allowed another hit before being pulled for Tim Mayza after 5⅔ innings.
Still, with the offense behind him, the Phillies were ready to be “in a dogfight” which has been a theme since they got their “second wind” coming off a slow start after the All-Star break.
“Whether we strike first or they do, I think we’re never really out of it,” Luzardo said. “Having faith in our ability too, whether it’s hold on until we can fight back or scratch an early lead.”
After Orion Kerkering gave up another Cardinals run in the eighth inning, Jhoan Duran came in the ninth to try and hold the game even for his fifth appearance in seventh games. Duran, who didn’t appear in the Phillies’ previous series against the Cardinals, only gave up a single to Walker.
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