Game 51 - 2018 Choice Williamsport Crosscutters #17 Rafael Marchan

Phillies 8, Blue Jays 7 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
Game 51 - Friday Night, September 18th in Philadelphia
Record - 26-25, 3rd Place, 4 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Huge clutch hits from Rafael Marchan and Bryce Harper gave the Phillies an improbable 8-7 win and a sweep of the Friday double header with the Blue Jays.

What It Means:  This was the first double header sweep by the Phillies since September 2012, over eight years ago.

What Happened:  David Hale drew the short straw and started this game for the Phillies, and he did a respectable job.  Hale pitched three scoreless innings before tiring in the fourth and combining with JoJo Romero to allow five Blue Jays runs.  Marchan hit his first professional home run in the fourth, a three-run shot off A.J. Cole, to tie the game 5-5.  The Blue Jays retook the lead quickly in the fifth, courtesy of Heath Hembree.

In the bottom of the sixth, Mickey Moniak walked, Marchan singled and then Harper doubled them both home to tie the game 7-7.  Alec Bohm grounded to second (it was ruled a single and an error on second baseman Joe Panik) scoring Harper with the go-ahead run.  Hector Neris allowed a pair of walks (one intentional, one not) in the bottom of the seventh before locking down his fifth save.

Featured Card:  I only have four Marchan baseball cards in my collection to date, and I've already featured two of them.  This is his first baseball card from the 2018 Williamsport Crosscutters team set.  I was really hoping he'd get a Topps Now card to celebrate his big home run, but he was omitted from this day's offerings.

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