(Philadelphia) Rhys Hoskins homered twice and the Philadelphia Phillies came from behind to defeat the San Diego Padres 10-6 on Saturday night.
Posted at 12:10 a.m.
Kyle Schwarber and JT Realmuto also hit a long ball for the Phillies, who took a 3-1 lead in this National Championship series.
The Phillies are trying to become the first team in Major League history to advance to the World Series after finishing third in their division.
Bryce Harper hit a double to put the Phillies ahead for good. The star player remained standing at second base, shouting that Citizens Bank Park was his home.
With another victory, it will also be the home of at least two World Series games.
The Phillies will send ace Zack Wheeler to the mound for Game 5 on Sunday in Philadelphia. They will be looking to win the National title for the first time since 2009 and they haven’t won the World Series since 2008.
The Phillies were trailing 4-0 in the first inning when they quietly put up runs. The turning point came in a fourth-run fifth inning at the expense of reliever Sean Manaea.
Trailing 6-4, the Pennsylvania squad started the comeback with a walk awarded to Schwarber. Hoskins then catapulted a shot into the stands. A walk to Realmuto set the stage for Harper’s productive hit.
Nick Castellanos pushed Harper home on a single to complete the score in the fifth inning. In the sixth, Schwarber fired a ball wide to the center for his third homer of the series. Realmuto put the finishing touches by pulling off a solo slap in the seventh.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson had picked Bailey Falter as the starter for Game 4 after a 17-day hiatus. The southpaw retired the first two batters, but Manny Machado homered to the left.
Falter allowed the next two batters to hit the trails and Brandon Drury slammed a two-run double to give the Padres a 3-0 lead. Falter’s evening’s work was over. Reliever Connor Brogdon allowed a one-run single to Ha-Seong Kim.
Padres starter Mike Clevinger fared little better. He allowed a single early in the end of the first inning and Hoskins hit his first homer of the night to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Clevinger walked Realmuto and Harper hit a one-run double to make it 4-3. The Padres starter was taken out of the game without even removing an opponent.
Bryson Stott tied it 4-4 in the fourth inning when his single to the left sent Castellanos to the plate.
The Padres responded in the fifth inning. Jurickson Profar was on the trails when Juan Soto hit a resounding home run over the right field fence.
At that point the visitors held a 6-4 lead, but things turned sour afterwards and that was the beginning of the end.