Zack Wheeler allowed just one run over seven innings. David Dahl homered in his Phillies debut. Johan Rojas drove in a key run and made a spectacular throw to home plate. And the Phillies defeated the Brewers on Monday, 3-1, in a clash between the teams leading the NL East and the NL Central.
All of it felt a bit peripheral, however, to Rhys Hoskins’ return to Citizens Bank Park. The longtime Phillie, who signed with Milwaukee as a free agent this offseason, was treated to a hero’s welcome as he stepped to the plate in the second inning. A standing ovation lasted over a full minute as a visibly emotional Hoskins waved his helmet to the crowd in appreciation.
Hoskins told reporters after the game that he had tears in his eyes. “It was loud,” said the Big Fella. “I got to sneak a peek up toward our family section, just to see how my wife was doing. It looked like she was probably shedding a couple of tears, too. It was loud, but that’s what this place does.”
“It was awesome,” said Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy. “The fans showed what this game is all about. Rhys left an impression on this fanbase, like he will on ours.”
Hoskins popped out to shortstop Edmundo Sosa in that first at-bat. He walked and stole second in the top of the fifth, and it looked like he was about to score from second on a single before Johan Rojas threw him out at home plate.
In his third and final at-bat of the night, Hoskins turned around a 95 mph Wheeler fastball and sent it 365 feet to left-center for a home run. This time, the crowd reaction was mixed: some fans cheered, some booed, and many were just silent as they processed conflicting emotions.
It helped that Hoskins’ seventh-inning dinger was relatively harmless. The Phillies seemed entirely in control of the ballgame by that point, despite the close score. Sosa and Rojas gave the Phils a 2-0 lead in the second inning with two-out RBI singles. Dahl, who was just called up from AAA and singled in his first at-bat as a Phillie, made it 3-0 with a home run to right field in the fourth. And Wheeler cruised fairly comfortably through his seven innings with the exception of the third, when he loaded the bases with no outs before escaping via a 1-2-3 double play and a strikeout.
“It was huge,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson when asked about the double play. “[Wheeler] had put on a lot of pitches in that inning. It was getting a little scary there. But J.T. made a heck of a play. He’s an athlete. Digs that ball in the dirt, throws from his knees to first base for the 1-2-3.”
Thomson was also asked, of course, about the ovation for Hoskins. “I expected that from our fanbase, and they gave it to him,” said Topper. “I know he was touched . . . just the look on his face, I think he was touched and appreciative.”
Jeff Hoffman and Jose Alvarado each pitched a clean inning of relief to close the game out, and the Phillies improved to 42-19 in front of over 40,000 fans. The win pushed the Phils’ division lead over Atlanta to a full seven games.
This level of success was unfathomable when rookie Rhys Hoskins debuted on the 2017 Phillies squad. That team would win just 66 games all year. Hoskins played in front of some sparse crowds that season, but ultimately ended his Phils career in a packed Citizens Bank Park as part of the 2022 National League Champions.
Phillies fans know that Hoskins was right there with them as the team transitioned from an MLB embarrassment into a perennial World Series contender. And on a warm, beautiful night in South Philly, they showed Hoskins that they will never forget what he did for this city.
Read PHLY contributor Jim Salisbury’s reflections on Rhys Hoskins here, or my old piece on Rhys Hoskins’ Phillies career here. We’ll also discuss Hoskins on Tuesday morning’s live PHLY Phillies youtube show at 11:00 a.m.
