PHILADELPHIA — The joint that was once the hippest and hottest summer spot in South Philly was jumping again Saturday afternoon.
No, not the Philadelphia Flower Show, although it was spectacular to see that thing bloom outside with all those people in FDR Park this week.
We’re talking about Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies and the land where you used to get stuck in pedestrian gridlock out in Ashburn Alley every time you showed up.
Sure, it took a visit from the New York Yankees to draw a season-high crowd of 38,450, but a great atmosphere is always welcome around here regardless of the means.
Better still for the fans that showed up wearing red was the way the Phillies responded to their largest home crowd since patrons started trickling back into the ballpark as pandemic restrictions have been lifted.
After watching the Yankees and their fans spring to life following a game-tying three-run homer from DJ LeMahieu in the top of the ninth inning, the Phillies answered and pulled off their third straight walk-off victory, beating the Yankees, 8-7, in 10 innings.
Once again it was Jean Segura who delivered the game-winning hit with an RBI single. It was his second straight walk-off hit.
Archie Bradley, with rejuvenated velocity on his fastball, came up huge in the top of the 10th inning by retiring the Yankees in order, leaving Gleyber Torres stranded at second base.
With Aroldis Chapman on the mound for the Yankees in the bottom of the 10th, Travis Jankowski moved Ronald Torreyes to third with a sacrifice bunt to start the inning. He got the added bonus of being safe when Chapman’s high throw pulled LeMahieu off the bag at first base.
After Odubel Herrera fouled out, Segura came through again and the Phillies’ fans who vocally sparred with the large contingent of Yankees fans all day long went home happy.
With a total of 14 hits, including six in the first inning, the Phillies improved to 5-2 on the homestand and got back to .500 for the first time since they were 22-22 on May 20. They will try to get over .500 with Aaron Nola on the mound Sunday against New York.
Before a lot of fans had a chance to sit down Saturday, the Phillies staged a first-inning hit parade, chasing Yankees starter Jameson Taillon after he had recorded just one out in the bottom of the first inning.
Herrera, Segura and J.T. Realmuto loaded the bases with three straight singles and Bryce Harper kept the line moving with a two-run single to center field. After Rhys Hoskins walked, Andrew McCutchen hit a ball that he thought was headed into the right-field stands for a grand slam.
Instead it landed in Aaron Judge’s glove for a sacrifice fly. It was the only out Tallon recorded and it was a productive one, allowing a run to score while also moving Harper to third base. When Alec Bohm followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0, Tallon’s afternoon was over after 33 pitches.
The kind of South Philly theater that only a visit from a New York team can generate materialized in the top of the second inning when the Yankees answered with a couple of runs off Vince Velasquez on a long solo homer by Gary Sanchez and an RBI triple from Brett Gardner to make it 4-2.
“Let’s go Yankees!” chants came through loud and clear, but they were met with a classic Philadelphia response: “Booooooooo!”
After New York scored twice off him in the second, however, Velasquez delivered three scoreless innings by pitching out of a couple of jams in the third and fifth.
LeMahieu opened the third with a double, but Velasquez responded by sandwiching a Torres groundout around strikeouts of Judge and Gio Urshela.
Two innings later, he got out of a first-and-second, no-out jam by ending the inning with consecutive strikeouts of Judge and Torres.
The Phillies, meanwhile, tacked on a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Segura and two more in the fifth on an RBI single by Bohm and an RBI double by Torreyes.
That made it 7-2 and set the stage for a classic Phillie Phanatic routine in front of the visiting dugout.
Dressed in tuxedo tails, the Phanatic danced to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” before smashing a plastic navy blue Yankees helmet right in front of the Bronx Bombers.
The routine appeared to truly irritate Giancarlo Stanton, but when the Yankees slugger had a chance to do something about it as a pinch-hitter in the top of the eighth inning, he grounded out to reliever Ranger Suarez.
The Yankees did eventually answer in a big way, but they still went back to their hotel room as the losers.
