Any win would have been enough to secure the Phillies a bye into the National League Divisional Series, so they would have gladly taken a rough, grinding one. It didn’t need to be flashy. But with help from Edmundo Sosa and four other Phillies who went deep, it turned out to be just that.
The game didn’t open with much energy, instead beginning as a careful contest between pitcher and batter. Otto Lopez gave Jesús Luzardo a serious challenge, working him for nine pitches, but ultimately went down on a foul tip strikeout. Heriberto Hernández also struck out to end the frame, while Augustín Ramírez fell the same way—though not on a foul tip.
Once the skies cleared, the Phillies wasted no time going after Ryan Weathers. Kyle Schwarber doubled when right fielder Joey Weimer leapt for a liner and came up short. Alec Bohm followed with a routine ground ball that should have been an easy out, but a poor throw from Lopez pulled the first baseman off the bag, leaving runners at the corners. The Marlins cleaned it up from there, escaping without damage
Bohm, evening things out, committed a miscue in the second inning when he pulled a throw just beyond Otto Kemp’s reach at first, allowing Connor Norby to advance to second with no outs. Eric Wagaman’s line drive brought him home, giving Miami a 1-0 advantage.
The Phillies evened the score in the third on—what else—a Kyle Schwarber blast, which soared over center field despite a Marlins outfielder leaping high in vain. Edmundo Sosa followed with his own homer in the next inning, clearing Monty’s Angle. Bryson Stott then added a solo shot, putting Philadelphia up 3-1.
Sosa showed some rust in the fifth, charging a grounder from Jakob Marsee and firing too hard, sending it past Kemp. But he quickly earned forgiveness: this was his first game back from injury, he already had a homer in the bank, and Marsee was immediately erased trying to steal third. More importantly, Sosa hammered a three-run homer later in the same inning, following a Bohm double and a Kemp walk.
Welcome back, Edmundo.
Schwarber joined in again with his second long ball of the night, crushing a poorly located fastball 468 feet for his 56th of the season. Bohm, not to be left out, added a solo homer of his own—less dramatic than Schwarber’s, but still warmly embraced. Otto Kemp added to the fun with a two-run drive to left, a shot that carried its own quiet charm.
Not every homer had equal elegance, though. One just barely sneaked over the left-field wall, and the umpires even reviewed it for possible fan interference before confirming it. But since it was Sosa’s third of the game, it stood out as the most memorable of all—arguably even topping Schwarber’s towering moonshot.