PHILADELPHIA _ This is how it's going to have to be.
If the Phillies are going to rally in the final 2 { weeks of the season and capture the second wild-card spot in the National League _ and mathematically, at least, there's still a chance, however slim based on their bear of a schedule and inability to sustain any shred of momentum _ they must outrun their pitching. That means big innings. It means timely hits. And it means home runs. Lots and lots of home runs.
The Phillies crushed four balls over the fence Tuesday night and another that would have gone over if Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. hadn't leapt at the wall to seemingly rob Scott Kingery in the third inning. And if the ball doesn't drop out of Acuna's glove on his way down, or if Kingery doesn't keep running hard and slide into home plate with a go-ahead inside-the-park home run, well, then maybe the Phillies don't come away with a 6-5 victory at Citizens Bank Park.
That's how small the margin for error is now. That's how it's going to be.
Corey Dickerson slugged two home runs. J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper hit one apiece. The Phillies matched their season-high with five homers. They entered the game three games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild-card spot and finished the night no worse than they started. As they walked off the field, the Cubs were just beginning their game in San Diego.
After jumping to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, the Phillies allowed four runs in the third. But although starter Jason Vargas was knocked out after the third inning, relievers Nick Vincent, Blake Parker, Ranger Suarez, Jared Hughes and Hector Neris combined to allow one run over the next six frames.
Dickerson continued to make a major contribution to the offense. Including his two homers against the Braves, he's slashing .302/.316/.612 with 10 doubles, two triples, eight homers and 34 RBIs in 33 games since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline.
The Phillies pummeled Braves starter Max Fried in the first inning. And if the results _ Realmuto's solo homer off the left-field foul pole, Harper's solo shot to right field, Rhys Hoskins' double off the short wall in straightaway center field, and Dickerson's line-drive two-run homer into the right-field seats _ weren't indicative of how hard they hit the rookie lefty, check out these exit velocities on the hits: 108.1, 106.7, 107.2 and 106.8 mph.
It marked the first time since July 6, 2009, that the Phillies hit three homers in the first inning of a game. Shane Victorino, Greg Dobbs and Chase Utley went deep that night, part of a 22-1 rout of the Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank Park.
This time, though, a funny thing happened on the way to a Phillies laugher. The Braves sent nine batters to the plate and scored four runs in the third inning against Vargas, who failed yet again to record his first victory for the Phillies in his eighth start since being acquired in a July 29 trade with the New York Mets.
Vargas gave up four hits (all singles) and walked two batters in the Braves' big inning. He also committed a costly error, gloving Francisco Cervelli's bases-loaded comebacker and attempting to flip it with his glove to cut down a runner at home plate. Instead, Realmuto couldn't handle the ball, enabling Josh Donaldson to score.
But it could've been even worse for Vargas. Harper threw out Ozzie Albies at third base for the first out of the inning and Kingery made a full-extension diving catch in center field to turn Austin Riley's bid for a bases-loaded extra-base hit into merely a game-tying sacrifice fly.
Kingery's inside-the-parker opened a 5-4 lead before Dickerson's second homer of the game made it 6-4. From there, the Phillies held on to win for the third time in four games.
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