Alumni Weekend came to a close Sunday with dozens of Phillies legends gathering along the third-base line to help the current team celebrate 20 years of Citizens Bank Park.
The crowd of 40,677 was bumping before Taijuan Walker threw his first pitch, and it looked after the Phillies took another early lead like they’d be able to finish off a four-game weekend sweep of the Nationals, but no such luck.
Walker was bitten by the home-run bug in each of his final two innings, and though the Phillies tied the game by going back-to-back in the bottom of the sixth, Matt Strahm allowed the game-winning run, a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of a 6-4 loss.
The Phillies put the tying run on base to start the bottom of the ninth and had Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto on the bench but manager Rob Thomson chose to stick with Cal Stevenson in the eight-hole. Stevenson hit into a 1-2-3 double play and Garrett Stubbs grounded out to second to end the game.
Thomson does this often when resting a regular. He usually wants to give the player a full day off. He’s done it this season with Trea Turner, Realmuto and Harper, leaving them on the bench in spots when you’d ordinarily expect to see a big bat enter as a pinch-hitter.
Thomson said Sunday that the rationale was getting Harper and Realmuto two full days off their feet before beginning a difficult stretch of 13 games against the Braves, Royals and Astros.
“That’s what I’m thinking about is that this is going to be a tough stretch, no doubt, and we’ve got to be able to handle it,” Thomson said. “We want healthy bodies and rested bodies so we give ourselves every chance to play well.”
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