J.T. Realmuto's double knocks in the decisive run as Phillies salvage third game of series with Padres

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 13, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — For the first two games of the series, the Phillies could not figure out the Padres bullpen.

The six runs they’d scored across Friday and Saturday’s losses had all come against San Diego’s starters. But after Sunday starter Nick Pivetta walked off the mound with two outs in the seventh, the score tied at 1, the Phillies needed to buck that trend to avoid the sweep.

J.T. Realmuto — who is swinging a hot bat and hitting .424 so far in July — ultimately came through in the eighth for the 2-1 win.

Bryce Harper, who had barely missed a home run earlier in the game, hit a double to the opposite field against reliever Adrian Morejon. But things seemed bleak when Nick Castellanos struck out swinging on a pitch a foot out of the strike zone for the second out.

Realmuto then worked a 3-1 count against David Morgan, and capitalized on a hanging slider for an RBI double to put the Phillies in front for the win. The catcher had also gunned down fleet-footed Fernando Tatis Jr. attempting to steal second base to end the seventh.

It was the Phillies’ first run since the first inning, when a run scored on a walk and two Padres throwing errors. Pivetta needed 22 pitches to finish the inning, but he was more efficient after that, cruising into the seventh.

Cristopher Sánchez pitched with some traffic on the bases — the leadoff hitter reached three times — but he escaped trouble by leaning on his changeup. The Padres loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on a single and two walks, but Sánchez struck out Jose Iglesias on a changeup to end the inning without damage.

The Padres’ only run came in the sixth inning. Sánchez gave up consecutive singles to Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts before a blistering hit from Iglesias got by Bryson Stott for an RBI single.

Sánchez was sent out for the eighth to secure one more out and obliged, inducing a line out from Luis Arraez.

Orion Kerkering took over and had shaky command, allowing a single and a walk. But following a mound visit from Caleb Cotham, Kerkering settled in and induced two fly outs .

Matt Strahm earned the save, but not without some drama. He walked Jake Cronenworth on four pitches to put the tying run aboard, and the Padres moved him into scoring position with their third sacrifice bunt of the game. Strahm then walked Tatis to put the winning run on first, but Arraez lined out to end the game.

After the Mets’ loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, the Phillies entered the All-Star break in first place in the National League East.