Pinch-hitter Pache's dramatic HR lifts Phils to 13th straight road win

MIAMI -- Cristian Pache had the most amazing feeling about the ball he crushed to center field in the ninth inning Friday night at loanDepot park.

He knew it immediately.

Gone.

“It was a real man that hit that ball,” Pache said after the Phillies’ dramatic 4-3 victory over the Marlins.

Pinch-hitting with two outs, Pache hit a go-ahead two-run home against Marlins closer A.J. Puk to give Philadelphia its 13th consecutive win on the road, tying the franchise record in the Modern Era (since 1900), which was first set in 1976.

It was the Phillies' first pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later since Matt Vierling’s homer against Milwaukee closer Josh Hader on June 7, 2022. It was their first _two-out_, pinch-hit, go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later since Cody Asche’s homer in 2015.

“It looked like it was shot out of a cannon,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.

Pache crushed an 0-1 sweeper from Puk that caught too much of the plate. The ball left Pache’s bat at 105.3 mph and sailed toward center field. Pache raised his right arm into the air before he got even halfway to first base. It looked for a moment like Marlins center fielder Dane Myers might have a play, but he “kind of got stuffed by the wall,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said.

Pache said he never worried the ball might be caught.

“Not really, because hits are unstoppable,” he said.

The ball cleared the fence. Pache raised his right arm into the air again.

Philadelphia’s dugout erupted. Phillies ace Zack Wheeler and right-hander Jeff Hoffman ran toward each other in the clubhouse. They high-fived and hugged.

“Really, neither of us knew what to do,” Hoffman said.

It was a truly remarkable victory for a team on a historic roll on the road. Philadelphia acquired Pache from Oakland for Minor League pitcher Billy Sullivan before Opening Day. Pache was once one of baseball’s top prospects, but even the lowly A’s had given up on him.

“It was a great pickup by our front office,” Thomson said.

“He’s been good when he’s had the chance,” Wheeler said. “He was [a] top prospect at one point, and he was that for a reason. Maybe he just didn’t click with certain teams or whatever, but he’s still got it in him. I always believe that for any kind of big prospect … I feel like they’ve always got it in them. It’s just a matter of everything clicking with the right team or right situation. He’s fitting in really well here, having a lot of fun. Taking advantage of the moments and times that he has gotten in there.”

Pache is fitting in. He is having fun. His personality is emerging.

Asked what crossed his mind as he circled the bases, Pache said through the team’s interpreter, “It's funny because back in Tampa [this week], I told the boys that when I hit the ball out of the park in Miami, that I was going to jump and have fun. And then look at that, in my first at-bat, I actually hit it out of the park.”

Why did he want to jump?

“I just wanted to jump because it looks sexy,” Pache said.

Thirteen consecutive wins on the road are "sexy." So is the Phillies’ 23-7 (.767) record since June 3, which is the second-best record in the Majors in that span. Friday was another team effort. Wheeler allowed three runs in six innings, then Hoffman pitched two scoreless to keep Philadelphia close. The Phils’ bullpen has thrown 25 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

J.T. Realmuto, who belted a solo homer in the sixth, hit a leadoff single to left to start the ninth.

“The bench perked up,” Thomson said. “As soon as he got that base hit, everybody was like, ‘OK, here we go, here we go, here we go.’ That’s a good feeling to have.”

Then Alec Bohm doubled to score Realmuto, bringing the Phillies within a run and setting up Pache, who pinch-hit for Brandon Marsh.

“He’s starting to open up a lot more,” Bohm said about Pache. “Nobody's going to hold him back. I feel like that's what helps guys play their best, right? If you're just comfortable showing up, being yourself, not trying to act a certain way or do certain things. Just be you. I feel like that's definitely something that's helped me and a lot of the younger guys around here perform.”

Pache said he feels supported in Philly.

“Honestly, I'm getting to know myself as a hitter still,” he said. “I've got [hitting coach] Kevin Long on my side, which is just great because I get to work with him every day, make adjustments, tweak things here and there. Super, super happy to be here.”