CHICAGO — A few short hours after finding out he’d be starting at third base for the National League in the All-Star Game, Alec Bohm took the sort of swings that have enabled him to make a leap in 2024, lead the league in RBI and help the Phillies to baseball’s best record through July 4.
Same for fellow All-Star Trea Turner, who is hitting 93 points higher than he was through this date a year ago and sparked rallies ahead of Bohm in the sixth and eighth innings.
Bohm came up in the top of the sixth with nobody out and the Phillies down a run. Turner had just legged out an infield single and Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga worked ahead with a splitter on the outside corner. The next pitch was a low-and-in, 89 mph fastball and Bohm did not miss it, blasting it to left-center field for a 415-foot home run that briefly put the Phillies ahead.
The Cubs tied the game off Matt Strahm with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but Turner and Bohm came right back with singles to center to begin the eighth. They both advanced on a wild pitch, Edmundo Sosa drove in Turner with a sacrifice fly to shallow center and struggling Whit Merrifield came through with an opposite-field RBI single to score Bohm for huge insurance in a 5-3 win.
The Phillies have taken the series to improve to a season-best 57-29. They’ve won four of five games since Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber hit the injured list on the same day.
Bohm is batting .299, leads the majors with 28 doubles and is up to 11 home runs and 70 RBI. He easily beat out Manny Machado to start at third base in the Midsummer Classic, claiming 70% of fan votes.
The honor for Bohm is well-deserved and was hard-earned.
“It means a lot because I saw where he started,” manager Rob Thomson said Wednesday afternoon. “I saw his first spring training out of the draft. To see him at that point, to see him now, it’s a completely different guy, completely different player, completely different person. I’ve been a development guy all my life and to see those things happen, it really perks you up.”
Zack Wheeler labored through six innings, spending most of his evening out of the stretch, but limited the damage to two runs, both of which scored on doubles by light-hitting Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. Wheeler finally retired Crow-Armstrong with a lineout to center to end his night at 102 pitches.
The Phillies’ ace took a no-decision and is 9-4 with a 2.74 ERA through 17 starts in his quest to win his first Cy Young award.
The Cubs scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the second before Rafael Marchan answered with a solo home run in the top of the third. Somehow, Marchan has hit five homers in 102 plate appearances as a major-leaguer compared to eight home runs in 1,673 plate appearances as a minor-leaguer.
The Phillies’ catching duo of Marchan and Garrett Stubbs has performed admirably at the plate as J.T. Realmuto has recovered from a June 12 meniscus surgery. Phillies catchers have hit .263 with a .461 slugging percentage with Realmuto out. Stubbs started the Phils’ scoring in the opener with a two-run double.
The Phillies are 18-7-5 in their 30 series and go for their 10th sweep of the season Thursday afternoon at 1:20 p.m. ET. National League Pitcher of the Month Cristopher Sanchez, riding a streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings since signing his four-year extension, opposes Jameson Taillon.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
