Always never enough: Rockies 9, Phillies 7

· Yahoo Sports

May 8, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) enters the field with catcher JT Realmuto (10) before the game against the Colorado Rockies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies (17-22) overcame a six-run deficit to come all the way back to take their series opener against the visiting Colorado Rockies (16-23) to extra innings, only to let it slip away for a 9-7 defeat.

Jesus Luzardo dug a huge hole with a nightmare fourth inning, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks. Prior to that, he gave up one run on two hits and struck out six, including the whole side in the third.

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Kyle Schwarber got the Phillies on the board with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth. A JT Realmuto RBI double cut the deficit to four but the Rockies would get that run right back on a Tyler Freeman home run in the top of the seventh.

Don Mattingly was seemingly waving the white flag by pitching his closer, Jhoan Duran, in the eighth inning to just get some work in after his return from the injured list.

But the offense had a five-run rally of their own in store for the bottom of the eighth, bringing eight batters to the plate. Bryce Harper got the fun started with a leadoff single and came home to score on a hit by Brandon Marsh. Bryson Stott hit an RBI double, his fifth extra-base hit in the month of May after tallying only four in April.

The rally was punctuated by a game-tying two-run homer by Justin Crawford, the first of several in his career.

Jose Alvarado held the ninth but the top of the order couldn’t crack Rockies’ closer, Victor Vodnik, so onto the tenth we went. 

Orion Kerkering allowed a one-out single which put the ghost runner on third base, but he worked out of the jam with a pop fly by Mickey Moniak and a punchout of Willi Castro.

After intentionally walking Marsh to start the frame, Vodnik again retired the heart of the order with little resistance.

Brad Keller came on in the top of the eleventh and allowed the go-ahead run to score on his second pitch, a double down the right field line by Troy Johnston. Johnston scored two batters later on a single by Jake McCarthy to cap off the victory.

Crawford legged out an infield dribbler to lead off the bottom of the eleventh and Edmundo Sosa made it to third on a Trea Turner fly out, but Schwarber and Harper couldn’t finish it off.

Harper reached base four times with two hits and two walks, raising his OBP to .382. Marsh also had two walks to go along with his RBI single, and Crawford had his second three-hit game of the year.

Turner and Sosa were the only members of the lineup to fail to reach base, each going 0-5 at the dish.

Aaron Nola will face off against Rockies’ left-hander, Kyle Freeland, tomorrow night in the middle game of the series.

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