PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Left fielder Marcell Ozuna dived for and missed Aaron Altherr’s two-run double with two outs in the 10th inning, allowing the Philadelphia Phillies to rally for a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.
Tommy Pham hit a solo homer in the top of the 10th, one inning after a wild pitch on a strikeout kept the game going. But the Phillies rallied.
Rhys Hoskins hit a bloop single to start the bottom of the 10th off Matt Bowman (0-2). Odubel Herrera dived headfirst into first to seemingly beat out an infield single, but the play was overturned by a video review. After Carlos Santana was intentionally walked, Bowman struck out Jesmuel Valentin.
Altherr then hit a sinking liner that appeared to skip off Ozuna’s glove before bouncing to the wall.
On a day former closer Hector Neris was sent to the minors, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler’s aggressive use of the bullpen nearly cost him. Seranthony Dominguez – the team’s best reliever – wasn’t available after pitching 2 1/3 innings in the previous two games. So Kapler turned to Victor Arano and Adam Morgan in the ninth to protect a 4-2 lead. Neither pitcher has ever earned a save.
Yadier Molina hit a one-out single in the ninth off Arano, and Jedd Gyorko followed with a double. Arano struck out Harrison Bader and fanned Yairo Munoz, but Munoz reached when catcher Andrew Knapp failed to block the wild pitch and a run scored.
Morgan came in and allowed a tying single to Kolten Wong.
Pham hit a deep drive off Jake Thompson (1-1) for his 11th homer.
Matt Carpenter and Yadier Molina also hit solo homers for St. Louis.
Herrera hit a three-run homer for Philadelphia.
The Phillies’ bullpen wasted a strong start from Nick Pivetta. He had a career-high 13 strikeouts, allowing two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings in his best outing since May 21. Pivetta lost his previous four starts, posting a 7.11 ERA in those games.
Pivetta left after Carpenter hit a double high off the fence in right to put runners at second and third. Right fielder Nick Williams exited with a bloody face after the ball hit him on the carom.
Edubray Ramos entered and struck out Pham and Jose Martinez swinging at sliders.
The Phillies have won six of eight games while the Cardinals have lost six of eight.
Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas gave up four runs and six hits in five innings.
