Phillies

Phillies Walk Off a Wild Series Opener Against the Nationals

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Apr 29th, 2025 · 11:48 PM EDT

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That was one of the craziest baseball games the Phillies have played in a long, long time.

Trea Turner had four hits and two head-scratching defensive plays late in the game. Johan Rojas hit his first home run of the season, along with another single and the game-tying sac fly in the 9th, while also having two head-scratching plays in the field.

Orion Kerkering threw a bad sweeper to Nathaniel Lowe, who didn’t miss it. The Nationals scored four runs in the 9th inning and took the lead. Kyle Finnegan then capped the night off with a wild pitch that scored Bryson Stott for a 7-6 walkoff win, then followed that up with an accidental step on Stott’s left hand.

Luckily, Stott said after the game that his hand is fine.

Bryson Stott said he’s good. They did some X-rays on the left hand and no damage. He said it’s only his left hand anyway, not important.

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) April 30, 2025

What the hell just happened? A win is a win. The Phillies are 16-13 and take the series opener against the Washington Nationals. Here’s what Rob Thomson had to say after the game about Rojas and Turner’s nights as a whole:

Rob Thomson on Johan Rojas and Trea Turner in tonight’s win:

Turner had a 4-hit game, Rojas had a homer and another hit, but both also had crucial defensive mistakes. pic.twitter.com/aRfpZrZDFT

— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) April 30, 2025

Rojas has done a really nice job at the plate since taking over in center field everyday. Rob Thomson is impressed, and Phillies fans should be too.

Here’s what Topper had to say in regards to Rojas and playing him every day:

I’ve said all along I think he’s making better decisions at the plate. He’s using the entire field. You still see some wild swings, but for the most part he’s cut down his swings. He’s hit a lot of line drives. He got the head out on the home run. He does have some power but I don’t want to tell him that (laughs). But yeah I think he’s sort of pulling everything in and keeping everything simple.

Jose Alvarado probably had one of the bigger innings. He entered the game in the bottom of the 8th, allowed back-to-back singles to Amed Rosario and Keibert Ruiz, followed by the weird play at second base by Turner. The bases were loaded with no outs, then Alvarado struck out the next three batters and got out of it unharmed:

🗣 JOSÉ, JOSÉ, JOSÉ, JOSÉ pic.twitter.com/ctj343hmol

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 30, 2025

Putting Alvarado to the side, that’s what happens when you put the 29th and 30th-ranked bullpens up against each other. Hopefully Wednesday won’t be as dramatic.