Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Game 101 - 2019 Topps Total #183 Jose Alvarez

Phillies 3Tigers 2 (15)
Game 101 - Tuesday Night, July 23rd in Detroit
Record - 53-48, 3rd place, 6 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies outlasted the Tigers in this contest as Rhys Hoskins singled home Scott Kingery with the winning run in the 15th inning.

What It Means:  The Tigers aren't a good team, and my hope coming into this quick two-game series was that the Phillies would easily handle them.  Fortunately, they prevailed after 15 innings and having left 11 runners on base.

What Happened:  Roman Quinn started the scoring with a surprising two-run home run (1) in the second.  The offense would pretty much shut down until Kingery tripled to start the 15th and Hoskins brought him home.  Aaron Nola pitched seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out seven.  The Phillies bullpen allowed only three hits in eight shutout innings.

Brad Miller made the defensive play of the game, retiring Nicholas Castellanos at home in the 14th with a great throw and an even better tag from catcher J.T. Realmuto.

Featured Card:  Jose Alvarez earned the win, his first with the Phillies, pitching the final two scoreless innings.  In his 41 appearances so far this season, he's allowed runs to score in only 10 of those outings.  He's been one of the most reliable and durable relievers for the Phillies this season, and this is his only mainstream Phillies card to date, found within Topps Total.  Players like Alvarez are the reason why Topps Total exists, as otherwise he'd be a longshot for inclusion in any other Topps releases.

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