PHILADELPHIA — Charlie Morton had thrown 100 pitches. A lefty, Aaron Bummer, was ready in the Atlanta Braves bullpen Thursday night. The Philadelphia Phillies saw it. They anticipated it. But Rob Thomson was not going to pinch-hit for Brandon Marsh. It was the sixth inning, Thomson had already used one of his bench players to replace an injured Alec Bohm, and the Phillies manager said he would have let Marsh hit against Bummer.
There are only five lefty hitters with as many at-bats as Marsh who have worse numbers against lefties this season. Marsh has three extra-base hits all season against lefties. Teams have deployed lefty relievers against Marsh all season. Maybe the Braves aren’t as confident in Bummer, a pitcher they acquired last winter in part to combat all of the Phillies’ lefty hitters, but Marsh against any lefty is not a favorable matchup for the Phillies.
Maybe they thought the Phillies would pinch hit.
But this is what the Braves chose — Morton vs. Marsh — and that is when Thursday night took a dramatic turn. A four-run Phillies comeback will not decide the division, but the Phillies went to bed with a six-game lead — not a tenuous four-game one — and it felt rather significant.
“There wasn’t a lot of life at all, really,” Nick Castellanos said. “And then that kind of jumpstarted everything.”
Phillies 5, Braves 4. Another classic between these two rivals. Castellanos won it with a two-run homer in the seventh. Marsh’s three-run homer in the sixth inning against Morton changed the whole night.
Marshy for 3!#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/enTeuWnpZQ
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 30, 2024
“If I knew he was going to hit a homer I’d have probably taken him out,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I don’t have that luxury. And he’s a good matchup, for me, right there. I like Charlie’s breaking ball on him. He popped him up, and the wind blew it out.”
Maybe so. Marsh hit it hard but did not think he got it all. “I thought I hit it too high, to be honest,” Marsh said. “But, you know, the game gave us a bone there.” It did because Marsh was offered a chance to face Morton a third time.
He struck out the first two times Thursday night. That made him 2-for-12 with nine strikeouts lifetime against Morton. It influenced Snitker’s decision. Morton had started Marsh with curveballs for strikes in the first two at-bats. Marsh took a first-pitch curveball in the third at-bat for a ball.
He had a hunch.
“He’s pitched for a very long time,” Marsh said. “So we know how he attacks guys. Everyone knows what his strengths are. He beat me the first two at-bats. And I kind of … did something I never do. I sat soft. Just tried to hit the pitch that he was throwing.”
Morton threw a curveball. Marsh slammed it to the opposite field. The third-time-through-the-order penalty is real.
Maybe Snitker thought the Phillies would not let Marsh hit against Bummer. Thomson’s only option in that spot was Weston Wilson. Edmundo Sosa had entered the game in the third inning for Bohm, who hurt his left hand on a swing. X-rays were negative, but Bohm was still sore after the game. The Phillies will see how he feels Friday. He might need a day or two.
Bummer has reverse splits; lefties have hit him better in 2024. But, for his career, he’s held lefties to a .561 OPS. Marsh entered Thursday with a .532 OPS against lefties this season.
Marsh has not made enough contact in the last few months. He has not taken the step forward the Phillies anticipated. He is talented but maddening. He has to be a weapon for the Phillies against right-handed pitching for the lineup to function well.
“I know he’s swinging and missing a little bit,” Thomson said. “But he is using the field and that’s his bread and butter. When he does that, he’s really good.”
“That’s been my little honey hole — left-center,” Marsh said. “I feel like that’s where a lot of my power is. When my direction’s that way, I feel like everything else cleans itself up.”
Marsh admitted to making things harder than they need to be. That can be said for many of the Phillies. Pull-side power is important — one of the tenets of success in the modern game — but an all-fields approach can prevent a hitter from falling into bad habits.
So, Marsh is trying to be simple. This is something the Phillies have stressed since they acquired him. Less is more.
“Just thinking too much,” Marsh said. “You just got to go up there and be an athlete. See it and react.”
He guessed Morton would throw a curveball, saw it, and smashed it. Something similar happened an inning later when Castellanos saw back-to-back fastballs from Grant Holmes. He hit the second one into the bushes in center field.
JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/0exnFw12Gk
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 30, 2024
Castellanos hit with the tying run on third base. He remembered the first inning, with Morton pitching, when Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud called three straight fastballs while Castellanos batted with runners in scoring position. “Pretty uncharacteristic,” Castellanos said. He wondered if the Braves were trying to mess with him by throwing him fastballs since he sees fewer of them than anyone in baseball.
“Me being ready for the fastball just was off my at-bat with Charlie,” Castellanos said. “The catcher is the one calling the pitches. So my instinct was, ‘Don’t let another fastball get blown by you.’”
He didn’t. Those two swings saved the Phillies.
“I can’t say it’s a bigger series than anything else, but it’s the Atlanta Braves here at the Bank,” Marsh said. “Getting close to the end of the season, we have to take as many as we can against these guys. So tonight was a huge, huge game for us. Take it going into tomorrow.”
This pivotal weekend is just beginning.
— The Athletic‘s David O’Brien contributed to this report.
(Photo of Brandon Marsh, right, celebrating with J.T. Realmuto: Drew Hallowell / Getty Images)
