It was a moment that you dream about when you’re a child, one day hoping to become a major league baseball player and to play under the bright lights of the Postseason. Philadelphia Phillies reliever Ranger Suárez lived that moment when he was pulled from the bullpen to close out Game 5 of the National League Championship Series after veteran reliever David Robertson walked two to put the Padres within scoring position. Suárez got Trent Grishman to bunt down the first base line to move the Padres 90 feet away from tying the game.
Seconds later, Suárez locked eyes with catcher J.T. Realmuto as Padres Austin Nola dug his cleats into the batter’s box with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. A 76-mph curveball found the left side of the plate. Nola made contact, shooting the ball into the air 219 feet away from home plate. Nick Castellanos hunkered underneath the flyball in shallow right field, waving second baseman Jean Segura away as the ball caught leather. Catch secured.
The Philadelphia Phillies are the National League Pennant champions and will play for the title in the 2022 World Series.
No other words can begin to describe what happened at Citizens Bank Park in the early evening hours of Sunday night. But without a sliver of a doubt, the Phillies relished in the glory that no one expected would become our reality. In Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, the Phillies captured their eighth NL Pennant, their first since 2009.
It was an all-around team effort fought by a charismatic group that never ceased to let the outside antics blur their view of reaching the Fall Classic. The Phillies were the third-place NL East team, seeded at No. 6, who used their momentum from defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Wild Card to defeating the Atlanta Braves in the NL Division Series and now the San Diego Padres in the NLCS.
After Zack Wheeler pitched six innings of two-run ball, collecting three hits and eight strikeouts, Phillies manager Rob Tomson — who will be the Phillies manager for the next two seasons (2023 thru ‘24) after documenting an extension with the Phillies on Oct. 10, 2022 — relied on Seranthony Domínguez, José Alvarado, David Robertson, and Suárez to maintain the pitching dominance that would lift the Phillies to the Game 5 win.
The bullpen tangoed with a Padres offense that showed potential and found ways to cut corners to put runs on the board. But the Phillies bats found a way to do the same and did it with a tad more grit, which helped solidify a series win (4-1).
Right fielder Juan Soto tried to provide an offensive push for the Padres, who desperately wanted to take the series back to San Diego with hopes of making a series comeback. Soto took a shot off Wheeler with a solo homer in the top of the fourth inning.
But it would not be enough after Phillies superstar Bryce Harper stepped up to the plate and transformed the Philly atmosphere into a chaotic madhouse when the two-time MVP sent a go-ahead two-run home run into the hands of Phillies fans in left field to give them a 4-3 edge.
Harper added a different MVP hardware to his collection, as the 30-year-old was awarded the NLCS MVP after his unbelievable series performance. Harper’s Championship Series slash line was cemented at .400/.400/.850 with two home runs, five RBI, four runs, and eight hits over the course of five games.
“Long before I walked up the steps, I said, let’s give them something to remember,” Harper said, reflecting on the moments leading up to his game-changing at-bat. “To be able to be the last National League team standing right now. The Philadelphia Phillies, we’re here. We’re ready to go in that next round. We’ve got four more. We’re going to enjoy this as a team, as a group, but we’ve got four more.”
