The Philadelphia Phillies scored six runs in the top of the ninth to produce one of the most shocking comebacks in recent playoff history, topping the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 in Game 1 of their National League Wild Card Series at Busch Stadium.
Trailing 2-0 heading into the ninth, Philadelphia, 0-54 when behind by multiple runs after eight innings, rallied against the St. Louis bullpen with Jean Segura's two-run single proving to be the go-ahead hit.
"It's what we do, We fight", said Alec Bohm. "We're never out of it. That's kind of who we are."
Both starters were extremely effective. Zack Wheeler threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings while Jose Quintana tossed 5 1/3 innings of two-hit ball for the Cardinals.
Yepez provides unlikely offense to put Cardinals in front in pitchers duel
Quintana was flawless, allowing a single to Matt Vierling and double to Bohm while working into the sixth. He struck out Kyle Schwarber, the NL home run champion, on his 75th and final pitch.
Wheeler dominated the St. Louis lineup, giving up a leadoff single to Lars Nootbaar in the bottom of the first and nothing else until Tommy Edman singled to open up the bottom of the sixth.
After retiring Nolan Arenado to open the seventh, he departed, handing things over to Jose Alvarado, who promptly surrendered a two-out home run to pinch-hitter Juan Yepez.
Jordan Hicks and Geovanni Gallegos held the Philadelphia offense down for 2 2/3 innings, handing things over to Ryan Helsley.
Phillies tattoo Helsley, Cardinals bullpen in ninth
J.T. Realmuto started the rally with a single, Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos walked to load the bases, bringing up Bohm, who was hit by a pitch to force in a run and cut the St. Louis lead in half.
The Cardinals training staff came out to check on Helsley, who jammed a finger earlier in the week in Pittsburgh and he was replaced by Andre Pallante, who gave up Segura's two-run single.
"It was exactly what I wanted", he said of the grounder that snuck through the right side. "It just got through."
Edmundo Sosa made it 4-2, scoring on Bryson Stott's grounder to first base and Brandon Marsh drove in a run after a tough hop eluded St. Louis shortstop Paul DeJong.
"Unfortunately that last inning got away", said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.
Schwarber hit a sacrifice fly and when the dust settled, Philadelphia led 6-2. Zach Eflin allowed Arenado and Dylan Carlson to reach base and the NL Central champions pulled to within 6-3 on a single by Nolan Gorman.
Yadier Molina came to the plate representing the tying run, but Eflin struck him out to end the game and put Philadelphia one win away from the Division Series.
"That's why you play 27 outs", Rhys Hoskins said. "There's just a ton of belief in this dugout."
"This is playoffs", said St. Louis' Paul Goldschmidt, a contender for NL MVP. "We got to try and find a way to win tomorrow. We can't worry about what happened today. If we can win tomorrow, we have a shot on Sunday."
Look ahead to Game 2
Philadelphia looks to close out the series by sending Aaron Nola to the mound. Despite an 11-13 record, the right-handed posted a 3.25 ERA and clinched the Phillies' playoff berth in his last outing.
Miles Mikolas will look to force a decisive third game and he struggled in a tune-up outing out of the bullpen in Pittsburgh, but has allowed just one earned run over his last two starts.