CHICAGO — Initially, it looked like the Phillies were on their way to an easy Game 1 win on Tuesday afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader against the White Sox. They scored three runs off White Sox starter Lance Lynn in the first inning, and two more in the third. Zack Wheeler retired six of the first seven batters he faced, but in the third with a 5-0 lead, he allowed singles to Lenyn Sosa, Elvis Andrus and Andrew Benintendi, and the bases were loaded with no outs.
Luis Robert doubled to score two runs, and Andrew Vaughn singled to score two more. By the time Wheeler walked off the mound in the third, the lead was down to 5-4 and he’d allowed four runs and six hits in a 36-pitch inning.
Wheeler wasn’t allowing much hard contact. Only two of the six hits he allowed in the third registered at 100 mph or more, according to Baseball Savant. But bad luck or not, the inning still whittled the Phillies’ lead from five runs to just one. It was no longer going to be an easy Game 1 win.
Instead, it was something better: a gritty, hard-fought 7-4 victory. A game the Phillies won in spite of a struggling starting pitcher, and a bullpen that’s been overworked of late. After five inning from Wheeler, Gregory Soto entered in the sixth, and quickly silenced the White Sox’s bats. He retired all three batters he faced on 14 pitches, and perhaps more importantly, he threw 10 strikes.
Craig Kimbrel, pitching as a set-up man, the same role that he struggled to fill with the White Sox in 2021, struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh.
Seranthony Domínguez, who has not looked himself this season, retired all three batters he faced in the eighth, and José Alvarado earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Nick Castellanos got the scoring started in the first inning with an RBI single. Alec Bohm followed two batters later with a two-run single for a 3-0 Phillies lead. Utilityman Josh Harrison, starting at third base, extended the lead to 5-0 with a two-run single in the third inning. He gave the Phillies a comfortable cushion in the seventh, hitting his first home run of the season, a 399-foot, two-run shot to left-center field. Harrison went 3-for-5 with four RBIs.
It wasn’t easy. But what got the Phillies to the World Series last year was their perseverance. Perhaps a hard-fought win every once in a while wouldn’t hurt.
Good day for Castellanos
Nick Castellanos continued his hot streak, going 3-for-4 with a walk. He’s now hitting .308/.400/.406.
