One Got Away: But Sánchez and a Hot August Have the Phillies Rolling

My dad used to say the losses that sting the most are the ones you almost won. Friday night at Citizens Bank Park was one of those. The Phillies loaded the bases in the ninth against Toronto’s Tyler Rogers, put the tying and winning runs on, and then watched Brandon Marsh ground out to end it. Blue Jays 5, Phillies 4. Final. The kind of game that has you standing in your kitchen at eleven o’clock replaying one swing.

But here’s the thing about a good baseball team in August, and it’s the thing I’d tell any South Jersey kid learning the game: you don’t read a season off one box score. You read it off the stretch. And the stretch the Phillies are on right now is a good one.

Fifteen wins, and a starter you trust

Rewind a night. Thursday, Cristopher Sánchez took the ball against Washington and did what he’s done all summer — gave the Phillies length, kept them in front, and walked off with a 7-3 win. That made Sánchez the first 15-game winner in the majors this season, 15-4 on the year, five straight decisions in his favor. Five innings, six hits, two runs. Nothing flashy. Just a starter you trust handing the ball to a bullpen with a lead, over and over, the way winning teams are built. Down here, we appreciate a guy like Sánchez. He works. He shows up. He doesn’t need the spotlight to get the job done.

That Thursday win was the Phillies’ fifth in six games — a genuine hot streak, the kind that separates a contender from a pretender when the calendar turns to August. Even with Friday’s gut-punch against Toronto, this is a team playing its best baseball at the moment it matters most, with its grip on a wild-card spot intact.

The shape of the wins

What I like about this stretch isn’t just the wins. It’s the shape of them. The bats have been carrying the load when they need to. The rotation has an ace pitching like an ace. And the ninth-inning heartbreak against Toronto — bases loaded, one swing short — tells you this lineup isn’t going quietly, even on the nights it comes up empty. A team that keeps putting the winning run on base in the ninth is a team that’s going to win a lot more of those than it loses.

The Phillies lost a close one. They’re also as hot as anybody in the league. Both things are true, and only one of them decides the season.Jake Sullivan

Now the schedule tightens, the way it always does in August. Every series feels a little heavier. Every wild-card rival’s score matters a little more. Wake up Saturday, check the standings, and get ready to do it all again. That’s baseball in a pennant race. And around here, we wouldn’t trade it.

Based on reporting from MLB.com, ESPN, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.