Kyle Schwarber singled home Cristian Pache with the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th inning and the Philadelphia Phillies continued their mastery of one-run games with a 3-2 victory over the host Oakland Athletics on Saturday afternoon.
After neither team scored in the 10th and each scored once in the 11th, the Phillies pushed across the eventual difference-maker when Pache, the inning’s automatic runner, advanced to third on Edmundo Sosa’s flyball to center field, prompting the A’s to move the infield in with one out.
Schwarber then found a hole in the right side of the Oakland infield for his 39th RBI of the season, providing the difference in the Phillies’ second straight win in the series and fifth straight overall.
Andrew Vasquez (2-0), the Phillies’ seventh pitcher in their longest game of the season, was credited with the win after holding the A’s to one run in two innings. Jeff Hoffman threw a hitless 12th for his first save of the season.
Ken Waldichuk (1-5), who allowed only the automatic runner to score in each of his two innings, took the loss.
Bryson Stott’s sacrifice fly and Carlos Perez’s RBI double accounted for the 11th-inning runs in the Phillies’ 15th victory in their 22 one-run games this season.
Both starting pitchers wound up with nothing to show for outstanding efforts.
Promoted from Triple-A before the game to make just his second big-league start of the season, Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez blanked the A’s on one hit before being lifted after four innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Perez ended a scoreless deadlock when he greeted Phillies reliever Matt Strahm with a leadoff home run in the fifth, his fourth of the season.
Philadelphia got that run right back, and knocked out A’s starter James Kaprielian, in the sixth.
One-out singles by Trea Turner and Alec Bohm ended Kaprielian’s day after 5 1/3 innings. After reliever Sam Moll struck out Bryce Harper and walked J.T. Realmuto intentionally, Stott’s infield single plated Turner and got the Phillies even at 1-1.
The run was charged to Kaprielian, who allowed five hits in his 83-pitch effort. He struck out six without allowing a walk.
Stott drove in two runs and Harper had a pair of singles for the Phillies, who did not have an extra-base hit among their nine hits.
Perez collected a single, double and home run, driving in a pair of runs, and Esteury Ruiz had two hits and his 36th stolen base of the season for the A’s, who lost their fourth straight.
–Field Level Media
