The Phillies went down quietly in their first three innings at London Stadium Saturday afternoon, appearing to be affected by the glare in center field. Five of the first 15 hitters of the game struck out looking with several appearing to not see the ball.Then the glare subsided and the Phillies' offense exploded, torching left-hander Sean Manaea for six runs in the fourth inning of a 7-2 win.
Harper celebrated his bomb with a soccer-like knee slide just outside the Phillies' dugout. Merrifield reacted to his by looking up at the heavens as he crossed home plate as if to say,"Finally."It has been a rough few months for Merrifield, who entered hitting .171 in 117 plate appearances. He'd been the one player on the roster from Opening Day who hadn't really clicked or had an important, game-changing moment.
As a mic'd up Harper mentioned in the third inning, the Phils are in the midst of traveling 18 different time zones in 17 days. When they land in Boston Sunday night, they'll have flown approximately 11,845 miles in less than three weeks. Saturday's win made them 8-5 during that grueling stretch and 45-19 on the season. Their lead on the Braves is up to 8½ games.
The opening frame could have been substantially worse, though. Home-plate umpire Mike Muchlinski called a pitch far off the plate a strike to steal a walk from Brandon Nimmo, who went on to fly out. And on Marte's double, any player on either side other than J.D. Martinez would have scored from first. The 36-year-old DH was held at third.