The Philadelphia Phillies won 8-3 on their fourth game of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves with a 3-1 score.
The Phillies beat the Braves in Game 4 thanks to the contributions of two midseason acquisitions, Brandon Marsh and Noah Syndergaard. Marsh hit a three-run home run in the second inning, helping the Phillies to a 3-0 victory.
Meanwhile, Syndergaard played for three innings, struck out three and allowed one run against the Braves’ batter.
Six seconds of pure electricity. pic.twitter.com/dZNohsmsxA
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) October 14, 2022
Bryce Harper also hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to secure the 8-3 win. As per multiple reports, he was shown celebrating it with his Phillies teammates throwing beers at him, including slugger Rhys Hoskins.
“It’s so cold! But it’s so good!” Hoskins said.
RHYS HOME RUN AND BAT SPIKE#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/6AYpGHJwb4
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 14, 2022
As the NL Division Series champions, the Phillies will advance to the National League Championship Series.
Thomson getting confident to win in postseason
The Phillies manager Rob Thomson led his team to finish third in the NL East at 87-75 in the regular season, 14 games behind the Braves with 101 wins. According to analysts, Thomson managed to transform Philadelphia into an NL contender after the board fired Joe Girardi in June.
In an interview, Thomson discussed his team’s performance this season, saying that they initially had a “slow start” with a tough schedule.
“We just got off to a little bit of a slow start and kind of spiraled. And May was a really tough month. It was a really tough schedule,” the former New York Yankees’ coach said.
Nevertheless, Thomson said that he was confident when the schedule was loosened up. He asserted that the Phillies could win games and continue to keep winning.
The Phillies made their way to NL Division Series after winning a wild card round. They went to a 2-0 sweep against NL Central first place the St. Louis Cardinals before facing the Braves.
“Then once we hit June, the schedule kind of lightened up a little bit and we started winning, and guys started getting confidence and believing that they could win and believing that, OK, now this is the team that we thought we were. And just kept going,” he said.
Rob Thomson said Zack Wheeler is available to pitch for an inning today, if needed. He also could start a potential Game 5 on short rest. Nothing decided, of course.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) October 15, 2022
On the other hand, Atlanta couldn’t repeat last year’s victory in the league after being this loss to the Phillies. As a result, no defending champion has emerged since the New York Yankees did so three times in a row from 1998 to 2000.
The Braves manager Brian Snitker said that they were targeting to win the division series as reigning champion, although they failed.
“Like I told them, the goal when we leave spring training is to win the division,” Snitker said.
“Until you win the division, you don’t have a chance to do anything special because you never know what’s going to happen, you don’t know what team’s going to get hot, what things have to go right for you to go deep into the postseason.”
What a night. pic.twitter.com/4NdPaFjhuk
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 15, 2022
For the upcoming game, the Phillies will start Game 1 of the NLCS against the San Diego Padres on October 18.