The Philadelphia Phillies are two wins away from their first World Series since 2009.
They took a 2-1 lead in the National League Championship Series with their 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres.
It was Philly’s first home game in the NLCS in a dozen years.
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Joe Musgrove allowed a leadoff homer to Kyle Schwarber, putting the fans at Citizens Bank Park on their feet early – he then allowed back-to-back walks, but Bryce Harper grounded into a double play, and Nick Castellanos grounded out, getting the Padres out of serious trouble.
San Diego had their first real threat in the fourth inning, as they had runners on first and third with one out. Jake Cronenworth hit a routine double play ball, but Jean Segura flat out dropped the toss at second base. Instead of getting out of the inning unscathed, the game was tied at one.
Segura had a chance at redemption in the bottom half of the inning, coming to the dish with runners on second and third and two outs – and he got it.
He dunked a bloop single into shallow right-center field to give Philly a 3-1 lead, and gave an emphatic bat slam. He also robbed Ha-Seong Kim of a base hit in the seventh that ended the inning, rather than two men on base for Juan Soto.
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Trent Grisham reached second base on an error as the first batter of the fifth inning, and he scored on a groundout two batters later.
In his five innings, Ranger Suarez struck out three, walked none, and allowed two runs (one unearned) on two hits. The first man out of the pen was Zach Eflin, who put runners on the corners with one out in the sixth – but Josh Bell grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
With two outs in the sixth, Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm hit back-to-back doubles, the latter of which gave the Phillies a 4-2 lead. That finished Musgrove’s night, who went 5.2 frames. He allowed those four runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out five.
The Padres got the leadoff man on in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Jurickson Profar couldn’t check his swing (the call could have gone either way), Grisham flied out, and Austin Nola struck out to end the game.
Seranthony Dominguez recorded the six-out save – it was the first six-out save the Phillies have had in the postseason since Tug McGraw did so to win the 1980 World Series, exactly 42 years ago. He has struck out 13 of the 22 batters he has faced this postseason, striking out at least two in each of his five appearances.
Mike Clevinger will start for the Padres to avoid a 3-1 hole – the Phillies’ starter is TBD. First pitch is set for 7:45 p.m. ET on FOX.
