Alec Bohm has struggled this year, but he came up huge on Friday night, hitting two solo shots to lift the Phillies over the Cardinals 2-0. It was an extraordinarily quiet game outside of Bohm’s heroics, as both Zack Wheeler and Cardinals’ starter Adam Wainwright pitched brilliantly. Today’s victory pushes the Phillies into sole possession of the third wildcard spot, 1.0 game ahead of the Cardinals.
Both starting pitchers were outstanding in this one, as Wheeler twirled 7.0 shutout innings, allowing only five hits and one walk, while punching out five. Wainwright was also masterful, as he pitched a two-run complete game, surrendering five base hits and no walks, fanning three Phillies.
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Bohm had the only extra base hits of the night, with Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and Odúbel Herrera’s singles being the only other Phillies offense. Paul Goldcshmidt and Nolan Arenado notched two singles apiece for the Cardinals, while Nolan Gorman and Dylan Carlson each collected a knock.
Bohm led off the sixth inning with a shot to straight away center field to get the scoring started, and blasted his second dinger of the night with two outs in the eighth to double the Phils’ lead. It’s a much needed coming out party for the 25-year-old, as he came into tonight’s action with a tepid .265/.300/.361 slash line over 317 plate appearances, good for a rough 87 OPS+. If this marks the beginning of Bohm breaking out of his slump, it’ll shore up a big hole in the back end of the Phillies’ lineup.