Justin Crawford delivered a walk-off infield single in the ninth inning to give the Philadelphia Phillies a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of Thursday's split doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park. Bryson Stott tied the game with a triple earlier in the inning, while Kyle Schwarber hit his 350th career home run in the first. The win marks the second straight victory under interim manager Don Mattingly.
The Phillies trailed 2-1 entering the bottom of the ninth against Giants reliever Ryan Walker. Stott worked a nine-pitch at-bat, fouling off eight consecutive sinkers before ripping a game-tying triple down the right-field line. Two batters later, Crawford's infield single scored Stott from third for the winning run. It was Crawford's second walk-off hit in his first month in the majors and his three-hit game overall, despite recent struggles batting .176 over his prior 16 games. “It felt good to get that going again,” Crawford said. Stott added, “Just, obviously, believing you can do it.” Both players had been mired in slumps for weeks, but their advanced metrics show promise—Stott's average exit velocity this season is a career-high 90.2 mph with a 46.9% hard-hit rate. Schwarber opened the scoring with a 406-foot, 113.0 mph home run off Logan Webb in the first inning, his 10th of the season and 197th with Philadelphia. The blast marked his 350th career homer in 1,321 games, ranking seventh-fewest in MLB history. “Kyle Schwarber keeps hitting home runs and the Phillies keep winning. Well, at least they have won in interim manager Don Mattingly’s first two games,” the team noted. This victory snapped a skid, marking Philadelphia's first consecutive wins since March 31-April 4 and first series win since April 3-5 in Colorado. Interim manager Mattingly, in his second game at the helm, praised Crawford: “What I like about Craw, he’s a good kid, No. 1. And I think he believes in himself.”
