Bullpen games are just never fun. When we all did the math in the games prior and saw that today was going to be one of those games, that usually means that the team is going to cycle through seven or eight pitchers, each one going one or two innings at a time. They're borderline unwatchable. When it came out that Cristopher Sanchez was going to be the starter, the hope was that maybe - maybe - the team would be able to get some length out of him. Past precedent usually indicates Sanchez will look fine once through the lineup, then get throttled once the opposing lineup has seen him. Today, the team was fortunate.
Sanchez registered four scoreless innings that the team desperately needed, something they hope can be built on in their search for a fifth starter. Unfortunately for the Phillies, the offense was stymied by the A's starter James Kaprielian for the first five innings themselves. For Oakland, once Sanchez was out of the game, they were able to push a run across in the fifth when Matt Strahm, who has struggled of late, allowed a solo home run to Carlos Perez.
More on him in a bit.
The Phillies got the run back in the sixth inning when, with the bases loaded, Sam Moll, in relief of Kaprielian, allowed an infield single to Bryson Stott on a perfectly placed ball.
Remarkably, the game stayed tied at one through the rest of the regulation innings, meaning the game needed to head to extra innings. The tenth inning went by relatively without much happening, though it seems that Rob Thomson likes the "intentionally walk the leadoff hitter in extras" strategy. In the eleventh inning, Stott came through again with a sacrifice fly that scored Alec Bohm and gave the Phillies a lead.
Andrew Vazquez, who had entered in the tenth, remained in the game to finish it out, but that darn Carlos Perez came through again for the A's, plating the tying run for the A's with an RBI double that tied everything up again, this time at two. In the twelfth inning, with one out and a runner on third, Kyle Schwarber delivered for the team, singling through a drawn in infield, and giving the Phillies the lead.
The lone reliever left, Jeff Hoffman, locked down the bottom of the twelfth inning, sealing the win and the series win for the Phillies.
They'll go back at it tomorrow on Father's Day.