PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Matt Vierling had a two-out, green light to steal and slid head-first so ferociously into second base that his helmet about tumbled into the outfield. That set the moment for Rhys Hoskins, who through 571 career games and 2,065 at-bats had never won a game for the Phillies on the final swing of the night.
“I found myself in those situations in the past and come up short,” Hoskins said. “Either try and do too much or maybe be a little bit too passive. I was just trying to get a pitch to hit.”
Hoskins found one, ripped a slider to left-center and raised his arms in celebration on his game-ending RBI double in the ninth inning that led Philadelphia over the Miami Marlins 3-2 Monday night.
“It’s the best. The best,” Hoskins said.
His two-out hit off Anthony Bass (1-3) scored Vierling and capped a Phillies rally from a 2-1 hole in the seventh. Vierling hit a one-out single and stole second base to get into scoring position.
“I think it put us in a good spot to win that game,” Vierling said. “It ended up working out.”
Sure did. The Phillies have won 10 of 11 games to streak into NL wild-card contention and rebounded from a 13-1 loss to Arizona a day earlier. The Phillies opened a stretch of seven straight games against NL East teams.
“It’s big to come back and win right away and maybe we’ll get on a little bit of a roll here,” interim manager Rob Thomson said. “I talked to the guys before the game that we need to start winning games in our division.”
Seranthony Dominguez (4-1) tossed a scoreless ninth for the win.
The Marlins have won the season series against the Phillies each of the last three years and had already won three of four this season. Sandy Alcantara was on the hill and in control until the eighth. He walked two runners to open the inning…