For Alec Bohm, taking a 101 mph pitch off the arm never felt so good.
After all, it forced in the first run of the game for the Phillies and sparked a six-run ninth that led to one of the most memorable wins in recent memory for the franchise.
“No doubt,” Bohm said on whether he was happy to get clipped on the arm by a Ryan Helsley fastball. “That’s the only time I’ll be happy.”
Bohm’s hit by pitch forced in a run, and five runs later, the Phillies had an improbable win after getting to one of the most dominant closers in baseball, and pushing themselves to the brink of advancing to the NLDS on Saturday.
“It's what we do,” Bohm said. “We fight. We’re never out of it. we have a deep lineup. No matter where we’re at in the lineup, we feel like we can put something together. You never know what can happen in this game.”
Asked if he felt his team “stole one” on Friday, Rob Thomson didn’t seem all that surprised that the Phils showed that level of fight, and erupted for six runs after failing to dent home plate for the first eight innings of game one.
“Those guys are so resilient,” Thomson said. “I’ve been saying that all year long. You get kind of a bloop hit, couple of walks, hit by pitch, scratch hit, all of a sudden, all these good things are happening. They just hung in there…we just kept fighting.”