Phillies drama: Rookie Luke Williams homers in ninth to beat the Braves
Luke Williams #LukeWilliams
Joe Girardi received a note this week from Mike Scioscia, who managed Luke Williams for a week with Team USA. He told the Phillies manager how well Williams played while helping Team USA secure a spot in the Olympics. He did everything right, the former Angels manager from Delaware County told Girardi.
“I’ve always considered Mike one of the best managers in the game,” Girardi said. “So coming from him is quite a compliment.”
And after two days, Scioscia’s note continues to hold up. Williams won Wednesday night’s 2-1 game over Atlanta with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth. He had the team’s only two extra-base hits in the game as he played center field, one of the seven spots Williams can handle.
A night earlier, Williams noticed the third baseman was playing deep and dropped a bunt for his first major-league hit. A throwing error moved Williams to third base. Like Scioscia said, he did everything right.
His ninth-inning homer bailed out a lineup that had not had a hit since Williams’ double in the fourth inning. Andrew McCutchen walked with one out to start the winning rally, which proved that Zach Eflin’s start would not be wasted.
The Phillies rested Eflin for nine days before he started Wednesday as they provided the pitcher with an elongated in-season break. They have looked this month for chances to spell their starters as they begin to plan for how their arms can finish a 162-game season after playing just 60 games in 2020.
And that rest seemed to be beneficial as Eflin allowed just one run, struck out seven batters in six innings and recorded 13 of his 18 outs via strikeouts and groundouts. Eflin was excellent and showed no rust despite being away for nine days.
The Braves loaded the bases against Eflin in the second inning with no outs, but he escaped with two groundouts and a strikeout. The first batter reached on an error by Alec Bohm, but Bohm recovered to handle both grounders when the bases were loaded.
Eflin benefited from the rest, but the lineup looks like it could use a break. The Phillies had just four hits before Williams’ homer. Jean Segura, J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins, and McCutchen — the team’s first five hitters — combined to go 1-for-17 with two walks.
Tucker Davidson, a 25-year-old left-hander making his fourth career start, shut the Phillies down for six innings. He allowed four hits, just one of which was for extra bases. The Atlanta bullpen dominated the Phillies just as much until Williams stepped in.
The Phillies drew just 13,552 fans as they struggle to attract fans despite the ballpark being opened to full capacity. It was the third-smallest crowd in Citizens Bank Park history when the ballpark is open to full capacity. Tuesday night (13,125) was the smallest in history and June 4 (15,030) was the fourth-smallest. The Phillies are two games below .500 and prove to be a tough product to sell after playing last season without fans in the stands.
“I understand that people have been through a lot,” Girardi said before the game. “Considering that we came from none, 15,000 seems like a ton of people in the stands. You see red everywhere. You see support everywhere we go on the road. Everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve had support. I’m not disappointed. I can’t tell you how happy I am just to see fans in the ballpark.”
