It took not one but two perfect throws. It took a lunge by catcher Andrew Knapp and a swipe tag on a bang-bang play at the plate. It took a video-replay review to confirm the call on the field.
That's all it took Sunday night for Brandon Workman to record his first save for the Phillies.
In a thrilling end to a sweep-averting 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves, shortstop Didi Gregorius' relay throw from center fielder Roman Quinn reached home plate at precisely the same time as Dansby Swanson. Knapp applied the tag, preserving a victory that the Phillies absolutely needed to have.
Quinn fielded a Freddie Freeman single that split the gap in left-center. Lead runner Adeiny Hechavarria scored easily but Swanson was cut down at the plate.
It was redemption for Workman, the closer who came over Friday night in a win-for-now trade with the Boston Red Sox. After blowing a save and then giving up the winning run in his Phillies debut one night earlier, Workman put two runners on base with two out in the ninth inning before the game-ending play.
It capped off a promising night for the bullpen. Heath Hembree, who came over with Workman in the trade, recorded five outs before Tommy Hunter tossed a scoreless eighth inning.
When Joe Girardi motioned to the Phillies' bullpen for the first time Sunday night, the Braves had the tying run on second base with one out in the sixth inning.
Here we go again, right?
This time, though, Girardi called for Hembree. And stranding inherited runners is Hembree's specialty. He left 19 of other pitchers' 24 runners on base last season with the Red Sox. The year before, it was 28 of 41, including 19 in a row at one point.
So, when Hembree struck out Johan Camargo and got Ender Inciarte to ground out, it wasn't anything new. But he pitched a scoreless seventh inning, too.
The Phillies built a 4-0 lead by playing home-run derby for three innings against Braves starter Josh Tomlin.
Alec Bohm hit his first big-league homer, a 446-foot smash into a fountain beyond the fence in straightaway center field in the second inning. Rhys Hoskins belted a two-run shot in the third before Gregorius lifted a solo shot to right field three batters later.
But the Braves got three runs back in the bottom of the third against Phillies starter Zach Eflin. The rally began with a leadoff walk and continued with back-to-back doubles by Swanson and Freeman and Marcell Ozuna's one-hop single over Bohm's glove on the left side of a drawn-in infield.
The Phillies loaded the bases on seven pitches against reliever Touki Toussaint in the fourth inning, then stretched the lead to 5-3 on an RBI single by Andrew McCutchen. But they squandered chances to break open the game _ and provide a bigger cushion for Eflin and the embattled bullpen _ by leaving the bases loaded in both the fourth and fifth innings.
