PHILADELPHIA _ It had been just two innings since the Phillies last left the bases loaded on Sunday afternoon when they fell within a strike of doing it yet again.
They were clinging to a two-run lead in the fifth inning of a 9-4 win over the Braves and another squandered chance felt like one that would do them in. The Phillies had been embarrassed the last two nights. A third straight loss had to be avoided.
But Bryce Harper struck out, Rhys Hoskins popped up, and J.T. Realmuto had a full-count with two outs and the bases loaded. Two innings earlier, Realmuto ended a bases-loaded rally with a fly out. This time, Realmuto's fly ball traveled a bit further.
Realmuto blasted a grand slam, giving the Phillies a six-run lead and providing the cushion they would need when Aaron Nola stumbled in the seventh inning. It was enough to not only salvage a rally, but prevented a disappointing weekend from being a colossal failure.
The Phillies, despite losing the first two games by a combined 15 runs, still find themselves in the thick of a crowded National League wild-card race. There are six teams within three games and the front office must decide by Wednesday's trade deadline if it thinks this team can make a run over the season's final two months.
It is days like Sunday that could make the front office believe the Phillies can be the team they dreamed they would be when they left spring training. The Phillies, a lineup built to mash opposing pitchers, had their first four-homer game in six weeks. Harper hit a first-pitch homer in the first, Hoskins hit a two-run homer in the seventh, and Adam Haseley homered for the second time in eight games.
And Nola, the pitcher pegged to anchor an uncertain rotation, breezed through the first six innings of Sunday like the ace the team hoped he would be. He struck out four of the first six batters he faced and finished with eight strikeouts. He stumbled in the seventh, allowed back-to-back homers, and brought the Braves within two runs.
But with the way the lineup produced on Sunday, that was OK. The Phillies will play two more games before Wednesday's trade deadline. Nola can only pitch every fifth day and the Phillies must find at least one more starting pitcher before the deadline if they want to compete for a wild-card berth.
Reaching the postseason, after a weekend that started with two brutal defeats, still feels like a tall task. The Phillies, as witnessed in the season's first 105 games, have more flaws than they could have imagined when they left Clearwater, Fla. But as Realmuto emptied the bases in the fifth inning, it was easy to be reminded of what this team can be.
