Phillips hits winning homer in Red Sox debut
Brandon Phillips hit a twoout, two-run homer in the ninth inning, highlighting his longawaited season debut and capping the Boston Red Sox’s biggest comeback of the season in a 9-8 victory over the Braves on Wednesday in Atlanta.
The Red Sox overcame a late six-run deficit to sweep the three-game series between division leaders.
Majors-leading Boston scored six times in the eighth to make it 7-all. After Freddie Freeman hit a solo homer with two outs in the Braves’ eighth, the Red Sox bounced back for their 97th win.
The 37-year-old Phillips sat out the first half of this year, signed a minor league contract with Boston in late June and was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket on Tuesday. He didn’t play that night, but started at second base in the final game of the interleague set.
After becoming the first player in Red Sox history to wear No. 0, in one swing the guy with the zero became a gameday hero. Andrew Benintendi singled with one out off A.J. Minter (4-3) and Steve Pearce struck out, bringing up Phillips. On the first pitch, Phillips homered deep into the left field seats.
Braves left fielder Ronald Acuna Jr., who hit another leadoff homer in the first, didn’t move as Phillips’ shot sailed over his head.
CARDINALS 7, NATIONALS 6 >> Matt Adams homered twice against his former team, Marcell Ozuna tied his career high with four hits, and visiting St. Louis held off Washington. One night after bashing five homers against Washington, St. Louis settled for three in the rubber game of the series as Yairo Munoz had a solo shot in the sixth. PIRATES 3, REDS 2 >> Jameson Taillon (12-9) pitched five effective innings and helped send Homer Bailey (1-14) to yet another loss in host Pittsburgh’s victory over Cincinnati.