PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Kody Clemens initially thought his game-tying home run in the ninth inning wasn’t one. The Phillies super official has been crushing baseball since being called back up to the Phillies on May 4, but even he had his doubts about the ball going over the fence.
“I honestly thought it was too low,” says Clemens. “It was amazing. That feeling is unparalleled. You kind of black out there. I’m just really grateful that it went out. I didn’t know it did, but it went out. It was amazing.”
Clemens, who entered the game in the seventh inning for Edmundo Sosa, hit the tying home run with two outs in the ninth to send the Phillies into extra innings. That home run set the stage for Bryce Harper’s heroics in the 10th inning, when he drove in Johan Rojas with a sacrifice fly to yield the ball. Philadelphia Phillies a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.
The Phillies never led until Harper’s sacrifice fly in the 10th won the game and clinched another series victory for the Phillies. This marked the 14th consecutive winning or tying streak for the Phillies, the second-longest streak in franchise history and the longest ever for the team in a single season.
Until their final at-bat with two outs in the ninth, the Phillies found a way to extend a game they seemed to have nothing to do with.
“[This] goes back to the character of the guys in the clubhouse,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “They fight and don’t give up. They never think they’re done until the last time they’re out. This is the nature of the ball club. They always feel like they are in the game, regardless of the score. It doesn’t matter which inning.”
The Phillies trailed three times in these three games, but managed to pull through each time. Bryson Stott hit a tying home run in the seventh, tying the game at 2-2 before Clemens scored his home run. Clemens also got a hit in that seventh inning and finished 2-for-2, improving his batting average to .304 and his OPS to 1.159.
“He’s getting more and more big league at-bats every day,” Harper said. “He’s going in there [and] he has never been surpassed. He tries not to do too much. Always tries to put the ball in the barrel and I think he does a phenomenal job even when he’s not playing or starting the game because he can hold the ball later in the game against tough pitchers. You saw it tonight.”
The Phillies managed just two hits on the night as Stott hit the home run to tie the score. While runs were tough to come by, Stott’s hit seemed to spark a dormant offense through six innings. Washington starter MacKenzie Gore got the Phillies through six innings before Stott’s home run sent him to the dugout.
“He has that extension — and life — on his fastball and a lot of his secondary pitches are pretty good, but he throws strikes,” Thompson said. “That’s maybe what we didn’t see — not so much last year.”
The Phillies improved to 33-14 with the win, tied with the 1976 and 1993 teams for the best starts through 47 games in franchise history. This win wouldn’t have been possible without the bat of Clemens, who had the hardest-hit home run of his career.
The home run was also the first tying run of Clemens’ career.
“Everyone was cheering and giving me a high five,” Clemens said when he returned to the dugout. “It’s great to be with these guys. We all pull together. It is awesome [to be here.] We all show up here and we’re expected to win the game. The atmosphere is great and we have a lot of confidence in the dressing room. It’s all coming together.”
