Sunday, April 22, 2018

Game 20 - 2018 Topps Living Set #4 Rhys Hoskins

Phillies 6, Pirates 2
Game 20 - Saturday Night, April 21st in Philadelphia
Record - 13-7, 2nd place, 1 game behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Aaron Nola dominated again and Rhys Hoskins put the Phillies ahead for good with a 3-run home run in the sixth.

What It Means:  The Phillies are playing good baseball and this win brought them to within a game of first place behind the Mets.

What Happened:  Nola allowed a lead-off home run to Sean Rodriguez and then settled in to allow just one more run in his seven innings of work.  He struck out nine.  Hector Neris recorded the last four outs for his fourth save.

In the decisive sixth inning, trailing 2-0, replay review showed that Carlos Santana had been hit by a pitch and he was awarded first.  Odubel Herrera singled and then Hoskins drilled a 1-2 pitch to left for his fourth home run of the season.  The Phils plated three more in the eighth with RBI singles from Hoskins and Scott Kingery.

Featured Card:  It was a coin flip between Hoskins and Nola for the featured card, and I gave Hoskins the nod for his four-RBI day.  This card is from a new offering this year from Topps called their Living Set.  Using the design of the classic 1953 Topps set, each week cards of 3 different players will be offered and the set is meant to go on "living" year after year.  Players will be featured only once unless they switch teams.  Hoskins is the first Phillies representative in the Living Set and more information can be found here.  I like the idea of this concept, and it certainly helps that these are really nice looking cards.

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