Phillies score four runs in the 8th to top the Cincinnati Reds

Things were going well for Andrew Abbott until they weren’t. And the lack of offense from the Reds made it all worse when Philadelphia finally broke through in the 8th inning to get on the boar and turn a 1-run deficit into a 4-1 ballgame with a big rally with two outs.

Final
R
H
E

Philadelphia Phillies (69-49)
4
8
0

Cincinnati Reds (62-58)
1
7
1

W: Romano (2-4) L: Abbott (8-3)

Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread

The Reds didn’t waste time getting things going on Monday evening. TJ Friedl doubled to lead off the bottom of the 1st and he would come around to score on a single by Gavin Lux to put the home team up 1-0.

Andrew Abbott was cruising for much of the day, and he got a little defensive help along the way, too. In the 2nd inning Ke’Bryan Hayes made a phenomenal diving play to rob J.T. Realmuto of a hit in.

While Abbott was doing his job to keep the Phillies off the board, Taijuan Walker was going the same thing against Cincinnati after that 1st inning. With a 1-0 deficit in the 7th, Bryce Harper led off with a double. J.T Realmuto found himself on the wrong side of things this inning as he was robbed of a hit on a barehanded grab and throw by Elly De La Cruz, but Harper moved to third on the play. Nick Castellanos then hit a fly ball to right field and Harper tagged up, but Noelvi Marte fired a 93 MPH laser to the plate to easily beat him for a double play to end the inning and keep the Reds up by a run.

Andrew Abbott headed back to the mound for the 8th inning and struck out Harrison Bader and Otto Kemp to start the inning, but then gave up a single to Edmundo Sosa. Weston Wilson then doubled into the left field corner and after the ball rattled around in the corner it got by Gavin Lux long enough to allow Sosa to score from first to tie the game up. Trea Turner followed up with an RBI single to put the Phillies up 2-1. That spelled the end of the day for Abbott. Tony Santillan entered the game to face Kyle Schwarber and he hit a 2-run home run on the second pitch he was to make it 4-1.

Cincinnati didn’t roll over in their half of the 8th. Spencer Steer led off with a walk and he moved up two second base when Gavin Lux connected for a 2-out single to keep the inning alive and bring the tying run to the plate. Noelvi Marte couldn’t come through, grounding into a force out to send the game to the 9th.

After the Phillies went scoreless in their half of the 9th, the Reds stepped into the box against Orion Kerkering hoping to put together a rally. They didn’t as Kerkering sat them down in order on 10 pitches as Philadelphia took a 4-1 win to open the 3-game series in Cincinnati.