2023 National League Wild Card Series 2

2023 National League Wild Card Series

Philadelphia Phillies 90 - 72 in the NL	2 - 0 Series Summary	Miami Marlins 84 - 78 in the NL

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Phillies: Rob Thomson | Marlins: Skip Schumaker

Phillies

Marlins

Umpires[edit]

Stu Scheurwater, Doug Eddings, James Hoye, Marvin Hudson, Jordan Baker, Edwin Moscoso

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Miami Marlins 1 Philadelphia Phillies 4	October 3	Jesus Luzardo (0-1) Zack Wheeler (1-0)	8:08 pm
2	Miami Marlins 1 Philadelphia Phillies 7	October 4	Braxton Garrett (0-1) Aaron Nola (1-0)	8:08 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ Citizens Bank Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Marlins	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	7	0
Phillies	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	1	x	4	11	0
WP: Zack Wheeler (1-0); LP: Jesus Luzardo (0-1); SV: Craig Kimbrel (1)
Home Runs: none

Attendance: 45 662

The Phillies approached Game 1 as a continuation of their brilliant postseason run the year before, having already secured a postseason slot for a while and looking forward to playing a lot more games. For the Marlins, it was something different, as only a week earlier, they were in a four-team race to secure the final two wild card slots, and were on the outside looking in before the other three contenders all stumbled, pushing them into the postseason for the first time since the unusual 2020 season. But no one could ignore the fact that while the Fish were distinct underdogs, they also had a history of pulling off huge postseason upsets on the rare occasions they had made it that far. On the mound, the Phillies had their ace, Zack Wheeler, facing off against Jesus Luzardo, who had put his sputtering career back on track with a solid season, but was not an ace by any definition of the term.

Wheeler started thing off by retiring the Marlins in order in the 1st, but it was a lot harder for Luzardo. He started off on the wrong foot with a single by Kyle Schwarber followed by a double by Trea Turner, but Luzardo escaped the jam with a line-out, a strikeout of Bryce Harper, and a fly out. Both pitchers breezed through the 2nd, then Jazz Chisholm got the Marlins' first hit when he led off the 3rd with a single, but this was followed by a strikeout and a double play grounder, meaning Wheeler had faced the minimum nine batters through three innings. The Phillies then got on the scoreboard first when Johan Rojas led off the bottom of the 3rd with a single, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Alec Bohm doubled to left to open the score. Wheeler again kept the Marlins from scoring in the top of the 4th, and the Phillies added two more runs against Luzardo, as in a repeat of the 1st inning, J.T. Realmuto led off with a single and Nick Castellanos followed with a double. This time, however, they were able to cash in a run: Bryson Stott followed with a single, scoring Realmuto, and while Castellanos was thrown out at home, Stott advanced to second on the throw. Another wild pitch by Luzardo advanced Stott to third and he scored on a single by Cristian Pache.

The 3-0 lead never was seriously threatened. The Marlins finally managed to get to Wheeler in the 7th when Josh Bell doubled with one out and Jake Burger and Bryan De La Cruz hit back-to-back singles one out later, the second one finally plating the slow-footed Bell. That was it for Wheeler who gave way to José Alvarado, who struck out veteran Yuli Gurriel to end the inning. The Phillies added an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th on a single by Harper and a double by Castellanos, and with a three-run lead, Craig Kimbrel closed things out, even if he allowed a double to Bell and balked him over to third before getting Burger to ground out to end the game.

Game 2 @ Citizens Bank Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Marlins	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	5	1
Phillies	0	0	2	1	0	4	0	0	x	7	7	0
WP: Aaron Nola (1-0); LP: Braxton Garrett (0-1)
Home Runs: PHI - J.T. Realmuto (1), Bryson Stott (1)

Attendance: 45,738

The Phillies completely dominated Game 2, played before a huge and enthusiastic crowd at Citizens Bank Park, to roll to an easy win the series. It all started with a great performance by starting pitcher Aaron Nola, who had a terrific outing, and who prevented the Marlins' batters from ever getting into the game. He faced the minimum 12 batters through the first four innings, with Miami's only baserunner during that time, Jon Berti, being caught stealing at third base after hitting a double in the 3rd. By then, though, Philadelphia had scored three runs and had the game firmly in control. In the 3rd inning, Cristian Pache led off the inning with a walk against young Braxton Garrett, who had been solid in the first two innings. He raced around the bases on a double Kyle Schwarber, then Schwarber scored as well when Trea Turner followed with a single. In the 4th, J.T. Realmuto greeted reliever David Robertson with a long homer to left field to make it 3-0.

The Marlins stirred for the first time after one out in the 5th inning when Jake Burger singled and Bryan De La Cruz drew a walk, but Jesus Sanchez followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play. Jacob Stallings then grounded into another twin killing in the 6th, after Berti had been hit by a pitch, and the Phillies put the game away in the bottom of that inning. Alec Bohm led off with a double, and after Andrew Nardi replaced Robertson on the mound, Bryce Harper drew a walk. Burger was unable to handle a ground ball at third base by Nick Castellanos that could have resulted in an inning-ending double play. Instead, Bryson Stott came up with the bases loaded and deposited Nardi's first pitch into the right field stands for his first career grand slam. At 7-0, the game was basically over. Nola left after seven excellent innings of work, and Orion Kerkering and Gregory Soto finished things off with an inning each. The Marlins did manage to score a run off Soto, but it came with two outs in the 9th when Josh Bell, who had been their most dangerous hitter in the two games, singled in pinch-hitter Xavier Edwards. Soto then struck out Jazz Chisholm to end the game, and the team that was clearly better won.