Phillies' bats get hot late to complete a sweep of the Rays in 7-6 extra-inning victory

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on May 8, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

TAMPA, Fla. — For seven innings on Thursday, it seemed as if the Phillies’ red-hot offense ran out of steam.

They had just two hits and trailed the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1, with the possibility of a sweep shrinking more and more with each groundout.

And yet they didn’t lie down. By the end of what was ultimately a 7-6 comeback win, the Phillies had added seven more hits to their total.

Bryson Stott got things started by barreling up a fastball in the eighth, sending it clear over the right field wall for a three-run homer. In the ninth, Kyle Schwarber singled, and a pinch-running Johan Rojas came around to tie the game at 5 two batters later.

Fast-forward to the 10th inning, and the Phillies continued to pour it on. A leadoff double from Brandon Marsh scored the ghost runner, before Trea Turner drove him in with a single to center field.

Tampa put the winning run aboard twice. In the ninth, Taylor Walls singled off José Alvarado, but a perfect throw from J.T. Realmuto caught him stealing second. Matt Strahm allowed a pair of two-out singles in the 10th, but responded with a strikeout to earn the save.

The Stott three-run homer answered the Rays’ own three-run shot in the previous inning. Two softly-hit singles — a bloop and a bunt — had come back to bite reliever Tanner Banks in the seventh when Yandy Díaz sent his changeup over the short porch in right field.

It wasn’t the sharpest outing for Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo, but he still held the Rays to two runs. He allowed his second homer of the year — his first since his Phillies debut — on a four-seam to Junior Caminero in the first inning. Luzardo had trouble putting away hitters — both walks he allowed came on full counts.

The Rays scored another run in the third inning. Rays nine-hole hitter Walls singled, stole second and advanced to third and scored on a pair of sacrifice flies to left, where Schwarber was making his fourth defensive start of the year.

Luzardo leaned on his sweeper, turning to it 38% of the time. He allowed six hits over 5 1/3 innings before Carlos Hernández took over with two inherited runners. Hernández ended the frame with back-to-back strikeouts, touching 98 mph with his heater.

The Phillies got on the board in the first when Stott doubled, advanced to third and scored on two straight sacrifice flies. But the leadoff double and a third-inning single from Alec Bohm were the only hits the Phillies managed off Rays starter Ryan Pepiot over six innings.

The Phillies caught three runners stealing, including Walls in the ninth. Realmuto fired a strike to second to nab Curtis Mead in the second, and Luzardo picked off Christopher Morel in the third.

Jordan Romano pitched a shutout eighth, though he allowed two runners and was helped out by some acrobatic fielding from Bohm, who jumped up in the air to rob a hit from Danny Jansen.