Alec Bohm's return couldn't have gone much better in Phillies' 8-2 win over Diamondbacks

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sep 20, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHOENIX — For three days this week, Rob Thomson looked on as Alec Bohm took batting practice in Dodger Stadium.

“Pretty good,” he said Friday. “Pretty impressive.”

So, the Philadelphia Phillies stuck to their plan and brought Bohm back from the injured list. They need their third baseman to be a productive middle-of-the-order hitter in the playoffs next month after he has gone missing for much of the season.

In that case, there might not have been better sights for the Phillies in a come-from-behind 8-2 victory over the desperate Arizona Diamondbacks than Bohm’s RBI double to cap an eight-pitch at-bat in the second inning and two-run single on a first-pitch sinker in the ninth.

“It kind of helps when you can see a few pitches in an at-bat and then be able to land on something and put a pretty good swing on a ball,” Bohm said of the first at-bat. “All the stuff we did in the cage to make sure that my eyes were staying ready and I wasn’t going to get back in the game and feel overmatched or feel like 95 was 105, everything we did just simplified things and got back to what works for me.”

Oh, there were other highlights. Take your pick:

Harrison Bader did it all (again) with three hits, including a game-tying solo homer in the fifth inning. But he also blanketed the spacious center field at Chase Field and brought his high-energy style.

Brandon Marsh started two rallies with base hits and came around to score both times. In the sixth inning, he stole second base and scored on Weston Wilson’s two-out RBI single.

After coming off the bench in the sixth inning and getting called out on strikes on a pitch that was nowhere near the zone, Nick Castellanos popped a two-run homer — the 250th of his career — into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen in left field in the eighth to open a 5-2 lead.

The Phillies’ pitching arrangement — “The Walker-Buehler Game” — worked well, with Taijuan Walker allowing two runs in the first inning but nothing more before passing the baton to Walker Buehler, who pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

When Buehler loaded the bases with two out in the eighth, lefty reliever Tanner Banks bailed him out by getting pinch-hitter Jordan Lawlar to pop up.

Got all that?

The Phillies (92-62) improved to 3-1 on their West Coast swing. They’ve won nine of 11 games and 16 of 21. They maintained a five-game lead over the Dodgers for a bye through the wild-card round and inched to within two games of the Brewers for the No. 1 seed in the National League.

It’s all good news for the Phillies, the best team in baseball since star closer Jhoan Duran and Bader came over at the trade deadline.

Imagine, then, the boost that Bohm could give them.

“I’m feeling healthy now,” he said. “I feel like, with what we have left, I can kind of flip the script on that and at least make some good memories here at the end.”

Two weeks ago, amid a 4-for-36 slump, Bohm gave in and got an injection in his left shoulder. For days, he had tried to play through inflammation that affected his swing. It was time to address the issue.

Bohm was on the injured list for the minimum 10 days, as the Phillies expected. They were eager to see how he looked upon his return.

It couldn’t have gone much better.

With the Phillies trailing 2-0 and a runner on first in the second inning, Bohm stepped in against Diamondbacks righty Ryne Nelson. He took a curveball in the dirt to work the count full before fouling off a 96 mph fastball and a dirt-diving cutter.

The eighth-pitch of the at-bat was a meaty fastball over the plate, and Bohm split the gap in right-center field for a double to make it 2-1.

“That’s him,” Thomson said. “He drove the ball. He had a good night offensively.”

In the ninth inning, the Diamondbacks intentionally walked Marsh to load the bases for Bohm in the ninth inning. Bohm pulled in his hands on a high sinker from reliever Jake Woodford and drove in two runs.

“Numbers-wise, I haven’t had the best year that I could have had,” Bohm said. “But I’ve battled through some things. It’s not always easy, and you’re not always going to have your best year every year.”

Luckily for Bohm, it isn’t over yet.

“I might not have started great, but you know what they say,” he said. “(If) we have a good postseason and we end up winning the last game of the year, then nobody’s going to care what I was doing in June and July. So, yeah, I’m excited about being able to, not so much right the ship but just be able to contribute.”