Sunday, April 30, 2017

2016 Topps Now #273 Zach Eflin

Dodgers 6, Phillies 5
Game 22 - Late Saturday Night, April 29th in Los Angeles
Record - 11-11, 2nd place, 4 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies suffered a nightmarish loss as the Dodgers used back-to-back-to-back home runs to help overcome a three-run deficit in the ninth and eventually win the ballgame.

What It Means:  Manager Pete Mackanin summarized the loss saying, “It's one of the worst losses I've ever been associated with.”

What Happened:  Hector Neris was handed a 5-2 lead to work with, and he allowed home runs to Yasiel Puig, Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner to start the ninth.  Joely Rodriguez relieved Neris and the winning run scored on a ball that couldn't be handled by Maikel Franco.  Brutal.

Lost in the pain is the fact that Zach Eflin pitched extremely well, allowing just two runs on four hits in his seven innings of work.  Brock Stassi (2) hit a three-run home run in the fourth.  Andrew Knapp also hit a home run - his first in the majors.

Featured Card:  This Eflin card should have been posted in celebration of his first win of the 2017 season.  Eflin's strong pitching last season earned him two different Topps Now cards, including this card from July 22nd when he threw a complete game shutout against the Pirates.

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