One more to go: Phillies 4, Tigers 2

The Phillies won their penultimate Spring Training game.

The Phillies won their next to last Spring game of the year by a score of 4-2 over the Detroit Tigers. Bryson Stott drove in three of the four runs including a two run, inside the park home run. Aaron Nola finished five innings in his last tune-up before the regular season and only allowed one run.

Philadelphia deployed what is likely to be their Opening Day lineup but struggled to get much going until the fifth. Tigers starter Reese Olson only allowed one hit and one walk through four before the Phillies rallied in the fifth. Max Kepler led off the inning with a walk before a J.T. Realmuto single put two on with no outs. But Nick Castellanos grounded into a double play, putting the scoring threat in jeopardy.

Bryson Stott then stepped to the plate and hit a ball towards the warning track in left-center field where Tigers outfielders Justyn Henry-Malloy and Max Clark collided, forcing right fielder Wenceel Perez to have to run all the way over to field the ball. Stott and Realmuto ultimately came around to score and gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead, but Malloy exited the game with an injury after the nasty collision. The Tigers are set to fly to California tonight to play an on-deck series in San Francisco with the Giants.

Stott would later tack on his third RBI in the seventh with a single that scored Rafael Marchan. Marchan had a single of his own and Castellanos walked, but the latter was thrown out going to third on Stott’s base hit. Brandon Marsh followed Stott’s RBI single with one of his own to push the Phillies then lead to 4-1.

Nola allowed a leadoff home run in the third to Kevin McGonigle to plate the first run of the game but was ultimately sharp in his last appearance before starting Sunday in Washington. He cruised through five innings on just 71 pitches while allowing three hits and two walks in addition to collecting four punchouts. It was a nice end to Nola’s strong Spring, as he allowed only 3 runs across 14.2 IP in four starts.

Orion Kerkering took the ball first after Nola and allowed a base hit but nothing more. Jose Alvarado continued his electric spring, as he struck out three hitters in a row after allowing a leadoff single in the seventh. Alvarado has yet to allow a run and has an eye-popping 20 strikeouts in just nine innings of work.

Tanner Banks allowed a run on a home run in the eighth but rebounded to strike out the side too. Andrew Bechtold had the task of closing the game out in the ninth and did so despite allowing two walks.

Tomorrow’s matchup

The Phillies will play their final game in Clearwater before heading north to start the regular season tomorrow at 12:35 pm when they take on the Tampa Bay Rays. Taijuan Walker is scheduled to start against Zack Littell of the Rays. The game will be broadcast as a webcast on MLB.com.