Phillies snap 5-game skid as Vierling’s walk-off hit in 10th caps 5-for-5 night in 4-3 win over Toronto

A big reason — perhaps the biggest reason — the Phillies are within reach of meaningful baseball in October is their depth. Unsung heroes have stepped up in the unlikeliest of moments, and it’s happened all season long. Rookie shortstop Bryson Stott, backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, and bench player Nick Maton have all recorded game-winning hits. The list goes on.

So, it was fitting that on Wednesday night, when the Phillies desperately needed to snap a five-game losing streak, it was the unsung heroes who helped them win a must-win game, 4-3, capped by rookie Matt Vierling’s walk-off single in the 10th inning to cap a 5-for-5 night.

The Phillies’ bats were largely quiet until the eighth inning, when J.T. Realmuto got them on the board with a solo home run, a half inning after Seranthony Domínguez allowed a three-run home run to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The Phillies’ day care took it from there.

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With two outs and Jean Segura on second base, Dalton Guthrie, who was playing in just his seventh big league game, lined a single to right field to score Segura and cut the Phillies’ deficit to 3-2.

In the next at-bat, Vierling, who was only in the game because center fielder Brandon Marsh was unavailable to play, singled to put runners on first and third, and Kyle Schwarber drove home Guthrie to tie the game at 3-3.

Bryce Harper, Realmuto and Alec Bohm went down 1-2-3 in the ninth, and Andrew Bellatti took the mound for the 10th inning. The 31-year-old journeyman reliever, who was signed to a minor league deal in November, faced the heart of the Blue Jays lineup. It wasn’t pretty — Bellatti walked two batters to load the bases — but Teoscar Hernandez hit a liner straight to second baseman Segura for an unassisted double play that ended the inning.

The Phillies started their half of the 10th with ghost runner Yairo Muñoz on second and Stott moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt. Blue Jays reliever Adam Cimber hit Segura with a pitch and walked Guthrie to load the bases. Then Vierling got the walk-off hit, a high bouncer over second base.

“I hit that thing hard, but I hit it about two feet in front of home plate,” Vierling said. “It just jumped right up the middle. It found a hole.”

The Phillies have a daunting task ahead of them — a four-game set against the Atlanta Braves to conclude their last homestand of the season — but Wednesday’s win seemed cathartic for a team that was spiraling. Maybe it will be enough to spark some positive momentum.

“It doesn’t get much better than that, seeing everyone come out and how fired up they were, especially given how things have been going,” Vierling said of the on-field celebration. “Hopefully we can carry that into tomorrow.”

In his first appearance since Aug. 20, right-hander Zack Wheeler looked like vintage Zack Wheeler on Wednesday night, not the Zack Wheeler we’ve seen this season. He looked like the one we saw last season, the pitcher who struck out 247 batters over 213⅓ innings and placed second in NL Cy Young Award voting.

Over four innings, he allowed just two hits with three strikeouts. He threw 16 pitches that clocked 98 mph or harder, and threw his hardest pitch of the season — a 99 mph four-seam fastball — in the second inning. He worked quickly and economically, throwing 58 pitches, 38 of them strikes.

It was an encouraging outing, but not a surprising one. Wheeler told us this was coming. When he was placed on the injured list in late August with elbow inflammation, he said was just starting to feel like his old self, thanks to two slight adjustments he’d made with the Phillies’ pitching coaches. And on Wednesday, after five missed starts, he looked like he hadn’t miss a beat.

“Outstanding,” interim manager Rob Thomson said of Wheeler. “I don’t know the last time I saw 98 mph out of Wheels, so that’s huge. It really is. It looked like his secondary stuff was not on like it normally is, but the fastball velocity and command was really good.”

Following a five-game skid and with more than a few injuries to contend with, Wheeler’s outing provided the Phillies with a piece of good news that they desperately needed. He’ll pitch two more outings and is now lined up to start Game 1 in a best-of-three wild-card series, should the Phillies make it there.

The Brewers are 2½ games behind the Phillies for the last NL wild-card spot. The Phillies could break their postseason drought just as a byproduct of Milwaukee’s struggles, but Wheeler’s outing should make them more optimistic that their 10-year playoff drought is about to end.

Noah Syndergaard’s outing should give them optimism, too. The right-hander, who was making his first appearance out of the bullpen since May 31, 2016, piggybacked Wheeler and gave the Phillies two stress-free innings, allowing just three hits with two strikeouts, against a lineup that had clubbed 18 runs the night before. It was his best (albeit his shortest) outing in weeks.

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Just as Wheeler is starting to look more like himself, Domínguez is starting to look a totally different pitcher. After giving up a season-high five earned runs in his last outing, on Sept. 16, Domínguez gave up Guerrero’s three-run homer. He was charged with just two earned runs, because of a throwing error by Stott that allowed Whit Merrifield to advance from first base to third base, but also gave up a single and two walks.

From there, Domínguez induced a groundout for his only out of the inning, and walked two more batters. Like his outing on Sept. 16, he was unable to finish the inning.

“It’s just command,” Thomson said of Domínguez’s rough night. “The velocity is there. I think, as time goes on, he’ll be fine. I really do.”