Sunday at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies got a starter-of-the-year performance and almost lost anyway.
Jesús Luzardo struck out 12 over seven innings and gave up almost nothing. His only two blemishes were RBI singles by Alejandro Kirk in the fourth and Brett Bateman in the fifth. That's the kind of outing that's supposed to be money in the bank. Instead, Philadelphia had to grind out twelve innings and lean on a pinch-hitter to avoid getting swept at home.
The bullpen is where it went sideways. Toronto put up a three-run eighth, capped by a two-run single from Andrés Giménez that tied the game at five. Everything Luzardo built, gone. If you're a Phillies fan, that's the part that should keep you up at night. This team is now 48-19 when Luzardo, Zack Wheeler, or Cristopher Sánchez starts. That's the blueprint for how they plan to contend. The formula works right up until the relievers get the ball.
And then the game refused to end. The Phillies looked like they'd won it in the 11th before Myles Straw cut down a runner at the plate with a throw from right field to start an inning-ending double play. That was a gorgeous piece of defense by Toronto, and it only delayed things. In the 12th, the Blue Jays nudged ahead on a Jesús Sánchez double-play groundout, Bryson Stott answered with an RBI single to tie it right back up, and Derek Hill, who'd entered as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, lined a bases-loaded single just past a diving Giménez to end it 7-6.
Kyle Schwarber deserves the actual headline here. He took Shane Bieber deep twice: a three-run shot in the third that broke a scoreless tie, then a leadoff drive in the fifth. Homers Nos. 34 and 35, his first since July 18. One swing like that can flip a quiet stretch fast. Bieber wore it: five runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Toronto had already taken Games 1 and 2, both close and dramatic, and came in one win from a sweep. Philadelphia gets to exhale, but this was a team that had been outplayed all weekend scraping out a single win in the twelfth to avoid embarrassment.
The Phillies began the day with a one-game cushion in the NL wild-card race, so every one of these counts. But if the plan for October is a great start followed by holding your breath through the eighth, that math catches up eventually. Sunday was a warning shot wearing a win's clothing.
