Game 98 - 2018 Topps Big League #227 Vince Velasquez

Phillies 5, Padres 0 (Game 2)
Game 98 - Sunday Night, July 22nd in Philadelphia
Record - 55-43, 1st place, 1 game ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Vince Velasquez took a no-hitter into the sixth inning as the Phillies blanked the Padres, 5-0.

What It Means:  The teams played a split-admission double header necessitated by Saturday's rain-out.

What Happened:  Velasquez went seven strong inning, allowing 2 hits and striking out 7.  Odubel Herrera hit his team-leading 17th home run in the 4th and Rhys Hoskins padded the lead with a 3-run home run (16) in the 7th. 

Featured Card:  I thought this was pretty cool from Meghan Montemurro's Tweet - Velasquez became the first Phillies pitcher to have three or more instances of a no-hitter through 5 innings in one season since Steve Carlton did it in 1979.  I happen to like the Topps Big League design way better than the Topps flagship design this year.  This is the inaugural edition of the new, young collector-geared Topps Big League set.

Transaction:  Between games, the Phillies activated Luis Garcia from the disabled list and placed Edubray Ramos on the DL with a right patella tendon strain.  Yacksel Rios was also added to the roster as the 26th man.

Field Report:  This game was the make-up of the game originally scheduled for Saturday night.  The Saturday night game was washed out along with one of our favorite events of the year - Photo Night.  Rather than re-schedule Photo Night, the Phillies announced the event would be completely canceled this season.  I'm bummed.  We've really enjoyed Photo Night the past few seasons, especially now that our sons are old enough to recognize and interact with the players.  Doug also immediately realized that the Photo Night cancellation meant there would be no limited edition Photo Night Chachi insert set this year.

Perhaps this frees up the checklist for a limited Postseason edition of Chachi cards instead . . .