WEST SACRAMENTO -- Max Kepler knew there was a chance.
As Kepler and Brandon Marsh prepared to pinch-hit with the Phillies down 5-4 in the seventh inning Saturday night against the Athletics, Kepler reminded his teammate of the stakes.
“We have an opportunity here to turn this baseball game around,” Kepler told Marsh.
His words could hardly have been more prophetic.
Kepler and Marsh delivered a signature moment apiece just when the Phillies needed it, making two of the biggest plays in Saturday’s 9-6 win in 11 innings at Sutter Health Park. The Phils have won nine straight games for the first time since June 1-11, 2022.
“They just kept fighting,” manager Rob Thomson said
That fight showed itself in dramatic fashion Saturday, over and over and over again. Kepler met the moment in the top of the ninth with the tying home run against flamethrowing A’s closer Mason Miller, and Marsh saved the game with a perfect throw home to complete a double play in the bottom of the 10th.
Marsh’s grab in center field set the stage for Kyle Schwarber, who paired his sixth-inning homer (tying him with Aaron Judge for the MLB lead with 18) with the game-winning, two-run double in the 11th. Schwarber and the Phillies trailed twice Saturday, but they knew they were never out of the ballgame.
“I really do think it’s impressive that we find a way every single time to be within striking distance -- or we do strike,” Schwarber said.
Kepler’s ambush against Miller with one away in the ninth was perhaps the Phils’ most substantial strike of the night. The outfielder anticipated a fastball, and he didn’t have to wait long: He crushed Miller’s first offering, a 101.4 mph heater, onto the berm beyond the right-field wall.
For the second straight night, the Phillies delivered against one of baseball’s most dominant relievers.
“Miller’s got great stuff,” Thomson said. “It’s unbelievable. I don’t know how these guys hit in today’s world with all this velocity and spin rate and all that stuff. I really don’t. Kep clipped him, and it was a huge, huge home run.”
And it was almost for naught. With the help of the automatic runner in extra innings, reliever Orion Kerkering -- pitching for a third straight game -- loaded the bases with nobody out in a 6-6 game in the bottom of the 10th. At one point, he had a 3-1 count against A’s star Brent Rooker, and a streak-snapping loss looked all but certain.
That’s where Marsh came in, snagging Rooker’s fly ball in shallow center field and firing a 94.9 mph strike home. Catcher J.T. Realmuto snapped the tag on A’s rookie Logan Davidson just in time, and the clutch double play was confirmed on review.
After an intentional walk, Kerkering coaxed a flyout to end the threat, extending a ballgame that had already seen its share of chaos.
“So many things happened in extra innings, it’s just hard to explain,” Thomson said.
Here’s another: the first career save for reliever Max Lazar, the final pitcher available on the Phillies’ lineup card. With just 15 2/3 career Major League innings under his belt, Lazar was summoned for the bottom of the 11th with the Phillies up 9-6. He brought the tying run to the plate, but he struck out Davidson to seal the deal -- and extend the A’s losing streak to 11 games.
“Anyone can step up at any time, just like ‘Laser,’” Marsh said. “That was a dominant performance by him and really shut the door for us.”
Outings like Lazar’s might be why the Phillies’ clubhouse was calm even after a win as exhilarating as Saturday’s 3-hour, 45-minute victory. It was a sign of a team that expects to win such chaotic contests, even when the odds are long.
“A game like tonight, it just shows the character of our ball club,” Thomson said.
The Phillies have been displaying their mettle for a while now. They haven’t lost since May 14, and Saturday’s game was a reminder why.
It was Kepler, determined to jump on triple-digit heat. It was Marsh, prepared for a high-stakes game of catch with Realmuto behind the plate. It was Schwarber, coiled to strike again and again. It was Lazar, sitting in an emptying bullpen, waiting for his name to be called.
For the Phillies, though, it was just another win.
“Everyone’s doing their part,” Marsh said. “It’s taken all of us in some of these past couple of games, and that’s what it’s going to take in the future.”