In a game that definitely needed to be consumed, and then recapped, the Philadelphia Phillies continued their late-summer dominance of the Twins with a decisive 9-1 victory, headlined by Philly’s seven-run, fifth-inning explosion.
As we were reminded in the pregame, the American League Wild Card situation is a bit of a cluster, especially with midgame victories by both the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles making it a five-way tie for the sixth seed. But as the Twins enter into direct competition with some clearer playoff hopefuls — the Phillies, while technically out of the mix due to an unresolved tiebreak, are still eight games over .500 — the plausibility of this Minnesota roster meaningfully competing with some of their fringe peers is called into question.
The Fightin’ Phils fought their way onto the scoreboard first today, scoring Luis Arraez on a J.T. Realmuto sacrifice fly in an inning that could have been worse for Minnesota starter Connor Prielipp.
Prielipp, clearly, was struck with intense FOMO, and he unleashed his desire to see an inning that could have been worse first-hand in the fifth. With a lone runner at first base and two quick outs, Prielipp lost all grip on reality and walked Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, and Arraez, the last of whom pushed across a run as he filled first. That made it 2-0 Phillies, but the score was quickly 3-0 after Alec Bohm drove an RBI single — one of five hits on the night for Bohm — to increase the lead.
Then, a two-run single from Edmundo Sosa, opening things up to 5-0, a deflating but still reachable deficit. That is, until a three-run bomb by Bryson Stott — still off Prielipp, mind you! — effectively put the game to bed before the halfway mark.
The Phillies would add an insurance run on another sac fly in the ninth, but they wouldn’t really need it. One of the only major threats of the night was erased in the fourth, when Luke Keaschall was called safe trying to score a run from first on a two-out Brooks Lee single, then saw his run erased after an accurate overturned challenge.
A Royce Lewis RBI double in the sixth would be Minnesota’s only contribution to the score today.
The Twins are now four games under .500, their lowest point since late July, and are presently out of that aforementioned third Wild Card position. They’ll have tomorrow afternoon to avoid the sweep against Philadelphia. See you then!
STUDS:
C Ryan Jeffers (1-for-3, R, RBI, 2B, BB)
SS Kaelen Culpepper (2-for-4, 2B)
DUDS:
SP Connor Prielipp (5 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 6 K)
2B Ryan Kreidler (0-for-3, BB, 3 K)