CHICAGO — Just hours after finding out he would start third in the National League All-Star Game, Alec Bohm made the decisions that would enable him to make a leap in 2024, lead the league in RBI and help the Phillies post the best record in baseball through the Fourth of July.
The same goes for fellow All-Star Trea Turner, who scored 93 more points than he did on this date a year ago and sparked a comeback against Bohm in the sixth and eighth innings.
Boehm led off the sixth inning with no outs and Philadelphia trailing by one. Turner had hit a single into the bullpen, then Chicago Cubs ace Shota Imanaga came up with a hit from the outside corner. The next pitch was a low, 89-mph fastball, and Boehm made no mistake, blasting it 415 feet into left-center field, briefly putting Philadelphia ahead.
The Cubs tied the game after Matt Strahum scored two runs in the seventh, but Turner and Boehm quickly got back on singles to center to start the eighth. Both led off on a wild pitch, Edmundo Sosa drove in Turner with a sacrifice fly to shallow center, and a struggling Whit Merrifield came through with an RBI single to the opposite field for Boehm’s big insurance run in a 5-3 win.
Philadelphia won the series to improve to 57-29, their best record of the season. They have also won four of five games since Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber were injured on the same day.
Bohm has a batting average of .299, leads the majors with 28 doubles, hits 11 home runs and 70 RBIs. He easily beat out Manny Machado to start at third base in the Midsummer Classic, earning 70 percent of the fan vote.
The honor that Bom received is well-deserved and well-earned.
“It means a lot because I saw where he started,” manager Rob Thompson said Wednesday afternoon. “I saw his first spring training after he was selected. Seeing him in that moment, seeing him now, he’s a completely different guy, a completely different player, a completely different person. I’ve been a development guy my whole life, and seeing these things happen, it really excites you.”
Zack Wheeler worked hard through six innings, spending most of his time on the sideline, but he managed to limit the damage to two runs scored by Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crowe-Armstrong with a double. Wheeler finally got Crowe-Armstrong off the field with a line drive to center to finish his night with 102 runs.
The Philadelphia star has not made a decision, posting 9 wins, 4 losses and a 2.74 ERA in 17 games as he seeks to win his first Cy Young Award.
The Cubs scored the game’s first run late in the second inning before Rafael Marchand responded with a solo home run early in the third. Somehow, Marchand hit five home runs in 102 plate appearances as a major leaguer compared to eight home runs in 1,673 plate appearances as a minor leaguer.
Marchand and Garrett Stubbs provided a stellar batting duo as JT Ralmotto recovered from his meniscus surgery on June 12. Philadelphia hitters posted a .263 batting average with a .461 slugging percentage in Ralmotto’s absence. Stubbs got Philadelphia’s scoring started in the opener with a double that led to two runs.
Philadelphia is 18-7-5 in a 30-game series and will be looking for its 10th win of the season on Thursday afternoon at 1:20 p.m. ET. National League Player of the Month Christopher Sanchez, who has gone 16 straight scoreless innings since signing a four-year contract extension, faces Jameson Taillon.
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