PHILADELPHIA -- Otto Kemp started his day Monday by having J.T. Realmuto lead him to the home clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park.
He ended it by leading Realmuto to third with a perfect bunt single in the 11th inning, setting up Brandon Marsh's walk-off single in the Phillies' dramatic 4-3 victory over the Cubs. The win snapped Philadelphia's five-game losing streak. It set off a series of celebrations, including mobbing Marsh on the infield and dousing Kemp with water during his postgame interview.
It was a rare moment of jubilation after a 10-game stretch in which the Phillies (38-28) had gone just 1-9 and faced endless questions about a lack of offense.
Safe to say the Phils needed that win?
"We all did, you know?" manager Rob Thomson said. "Hopefully, that sort of just settles things down a little bit."
But it didn't come easy.
On a night when the Phillies ran into three outs on the basepaths, grounded into three double plays, gave up a game-tying homer in the eighth and fell behind in the 11th, they bailed themselves out by playing small ball to perfection.
Kemp's bunt single to load the bases came moments after Bryson Stott beat out a bunt single of his own. The latter wasn't all that surprising -- it was Stott's ninth career bunt hit, plus he has three sacrifice bunts.
Kemp, however, hadn't laid down a bunt in a game situation since summer ball in the Northwoods League in 2021. Still, when Thomson approached him this weekend in Pittsburgh to ask if he could bunt if the situation called for it, Kemp assured his manager he could get one down.
Oh, and that bunt attempt nearly four years ago?
"I popped it up straight to the catcher," Kemp said with a laugh.
Needless to say, Kemp didn't share that part with Thomson.
It worked out this time around, with the Phillies’ No. 24 prospect perfectly placing a bunt to the third-base side and hustling down the line to beat the throw. He pumped his fist after running through the bag while Realmuto clapped his hands and flashed a big smile across the diamond.
The bunt capped a three-hit night for Kemp, who picked up his first career hit on a 105.9 mph line-drive single in the fifth inning. But it was the ball that left his bat at 23.3 mph that stole the show.
"Honestly, I'll go with that bunt," Kemp said when asked whether he enjoyed his first hit or the bunt more. "Just to help the team win. Felt like it was a big situation. I was happy that I could just help move the runners over and give Marshy a chance to do what he did."
Marsh followed with his first career walk-off knock, drilling a ball off the wall in left-center field before being swarmed by his teammates.
"That's why we show up and come out to play -- for moments like that," Marsh said. "It was a big win for us."
The Phillies know there is still plenty to clean up.
They managed only four runs and eked out a one-run victory despite outhitting the Cubs 16-5. Only one of those 16 hits went for extra bases (Nick Castellanos’ sixth-inning double) and the Phils were just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position over the first 10 innings before going 3-for-3 in the 11th.
"We had 19 baserunners tonight and scored four runs," Thomson said. "That's kind of hard to do."
Turns out it’s also kind of hard to find your way around Citizens Bank Park for someone who’s never been there before.
“Luckily, I got here as J.T. was walking in,” Kemp said. “So I kind of just walked with him and let him take me.”
Kemp had purposely not attended any Phillies games since signing with the organization as an undrafted free agent out of Division II Point Loma Nazarene University in 2022. He had heard about the atmosphere and seen it on TV, but he wanted his first time inside Citizens Bank Park to be special.
“It was motivation to keep me pushing and get to this point,” Kemp said.
It was fitting then that -- aside from Marsh’s walk-off -- the two loudest cheers of the night were for Kemp. The first was when he scrambled from first to third on an errant pickoff attempt following his first career hit. The second was for the bunt.
“It's unbelievable,” Kemp said. “The energy that I felt today, the support from all the fans, the buzz -- it's crazy.”
Three years ago, Kemp had trouble picturing a path to the Majors. He certainly couldn’t have pictured Kyle Schwarber and Stott dumping a water cooler over his head while a packed ballpark -- one that included countless friends, family members and his college baseball coach -- cheered along.
“I'll have that Gatorade bath any day, honestly,” Kemp said. “It was awesome. I'm excited to be a Phil.”
Especially now that he knows where to find his locker.