Phillies' bats come alive late to power past Rockies in home opener

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 31, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — A few minutes past 3 o’clock Monday, “Fly, Eagles Fly” boomed through the speakers in Citizens Bank Park, and Brandon Graham and Saquon Barkley walked on the field, the Lombardi Trophy in tow.

How on earth were the Phillies supposed to top that?

If we’re being honest, that’s the loudest it was ever going to get all day, even if the Phillies’ bats hadn’t snoozed through six innings of the 22nd opener at the Bank. But when Edmundo Sosa split the gap in right-center field with two outs in the seventh, well, crank up the volume.

Sosa’s two-run double erased a one-run deficit and awoke a sleeping offense in a 6-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies before a sellout crowd of 44,595 paying customers in the first baseball game of 2025 in South Philly.

The Phillies’ third win in four games followed a familiar script. Cristopher Sánchez provided a stellar start, just like Zack Wheeler on opening day in Washington and Jesús Luzardo one day later. And the offense showed up late, hammering an opposing bullpen after being muted by a starter.

This time, Sosa’s go-ahead hit against Rockies reliever Victor Vodnik was followed by a two-run homer by Kyle Schwarber in the seventh inning and back-to-back shots by Max Kepler and Nick Castellanos against Bradley Blalock in the eighth.

Before that, though, the Phillies mustered only four hits against Rockies starter Germán Márquez, just as they struggled over the weekend in Washington against MacKenzie Gore and Mitchell Parker.

The Rockies lifted Márquez after six innings and brought on lefty Scott Alexander against the lefty-heavy bottom half of the Phillies’ order. But after Bryson Stott lined a two-out double to right field, manager Rob Thomson used Trea Turner as a pinch-hitter. Turner missed the previous two games with back spasms, and Thomson preferred to give him one more day off before putting him back in the lineup Wednesday.

Turner worked a six-pitch walk to bring up Sosa, the backup infielder who tends to bring energy when he plays. And Sosa energized the ballpark when he stood on second base and gestured to the “Phillies” logo on the front of his jersey after driving in Stott and Turner to forge a 2-1 lead.

The Phillies lined up Sánchez for the home opener because, in part, he pitched much better last season here (2.21 ERA in 17 starts) than on the road (5.02 ERA in 14 starts).

But it was also a cap-tip to his meteoric rise from also-ran to All-Star.

And in case getting the nod before the first sellout crowd of the season on a virtual holiday in South Philly wasn’t complimentary enough, how about this from Thomson before the game?

“He’s at a point where he’s the combination of power and command,” Thomson said. “Much like Wheeler is.”

Praise doesn’t get much higher than that around the Phillies in 2025.

Sánchez didn’t disappoint, either. He cranked up his sinker to 98.1 mph to strike out Sean Bouchard in the fifth inning and averaged 96.5 mph. He made Rockies hitters swing and miss 15 times, 12 of which came on his signature changeup.

Through five innings, Sánchez allowed three hits (all singles) and didn’t let a runner advance beyond second base. But with one out in the sixth, he left a full-count slider — his 93rd and final pitch — over the plate to Hunter Goodman for a 1-0 Rockies lead.

Better late than never, the Phillies’ offense excused Sánchez’s only mistake.