Phillies battle back and win wild game in Miami to take weekend series
Put together a list of the things you probably did not expect to say at any point during the 2016 season, and “Jeanmar Gomez leads all of baseball in saves” was probably among them. After the Phillies battled back a couple of times in a back-and-forth game against the Miami Marlins on Mother’s Day, however, that is exactly the case. Gomez picked up his MLB-leading 11th save to wrap up a 6-5 win to take the series in Miami, the second stop on a 10-game road trip.
Aaron Nola saw his scoreless streak come to an end when he allowed three runs to cross the plate, but he turned in six innings and struck out five batters while limiting the damage to just one inning. All things considered, not a bad outing from one of the young pitchers in the rotation. He was bound to give up some runs sooner or later anyway.
Andrew Bailey came in for the seventh inning and ran into some trouble, giving up a pair of earned runs on three hits. Hector Neris came in for a strong outing in Bailey’s relief, going 1.2 innings with a strikeout and one walk without allowing a hit. With the Phillies up 6-5 in the ninth inning, in stepped Gomez to go for his 11th save in 12 save opportunities.
The lone hiccup for Gomez this season came last week in St. Louis, when he blew his first save of the season in typical Cardinal fashion, with a couple of balls not quite reaching the outfield but putting the Phillies defense in some tough spots to make the plays it needed. Since that blown save, Gomez has rebounded for two straight converted saves, including his appearance Saturday night to close out a 4-3 victory. This was exactly what the Phillies wanted to see from Gomez as he embraces the closer role.
The Phillies now have a chance to salvage this road trip with a winning record. After a 1-3 visit to St. Louis, the Phillies have rallied to pick up two of three from the Marlins, using come-from-behind play in each game. Now at 3-4 on this trip, the Phillies head to Atlanta for three games against the worst team in baseball. A sweep would send the Phillies home with a winning record on the trip, although taking tow of three still sends them home with an encouraging 5-5 record after starting off the trip 1-4.
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