“It is a special day for me,” new Phillie Wilson Ramos said last night. “I’ll remember it like my MLB debut. I wanted to show everybody what I can do.”
By Sam Bush
It was also a special day and night for Phillies Nation, which was getting nervous that their faves had hit the wall in the NL East because of a dismal recent West Coast trip in which they had lost 5 of 7.
Ramos had three extra-base hits and three RBI, helping the Phillies beat the Boston Red Sox 7-4 in his first game for the Phils since he was traded to Philly at the deadline.
The Phillies remained two games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East after splitting a two-game interleague series with the major league-leading Red Sox for the second time in three weeks.
Ramos, the two-time All-Star catcher acquired from Tampa Bay on July 31, made a big impact after missing a month because of a strained hamstring.
He hit his second career triple and first in seven years leading off the bottom of the sixth inning, chugging around the bases after his liner off Joe Kelly (4-1) to right-center took an odd bounce off the wall.
Ramos scored on pinch-hitter Scott Kingery’s sacrifice fly to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead. He hammered a two-run double with two outs in the seventh off Drew Pomeranz to extend the lead to 6-3 and scored on Maikel Franco’s single.
Ramos provided a huge spark for a struggling offense, and also threw out Brock Holt trying to steal second from his knees. He finished the night getting a cooler shower on the field.
“Tremendous performance,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. “He showed he fits into our style of offense. He was a calming influence for our bullpen.”
Seven relievers combined to allow one unearned run in 6 2/3 innings for Philadelphia. Tommy Hunter (4-2) earned the win by getting one out in the sixth. Seranthony Dominguez got four outs for his 13th save in 16 chances.
“It was a collective group effort from the bullpen,” Hunter said.
Down 3-0, the Phillies rallied in the fourth against Nathan Eovaldi. Ramos hit an RBI double off the top of the fence in right and Nick Williams scored onOdubel Herrera’s RBI groundout. With two outs, pinch-hitter Carlos Santana ripped an RBI single past second baseman Holt positioned in shallow right to tie it at 3.
Eovaldi allowed three runs — one earned — and seven hits in five innings during his fourth start for the Red Sox.
“We’ll take 7-2 on any road trip during the season,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We went through a tough stretch and to do what we did, I’m proud of them.”
Phillies starter Vince Velasquez lasted only 2 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, four hits and four walks. Velasquez ran into trouble in the third when he walked Eovaldi with one out and hit Andrew Benintendi with a pitch. Holt reached on an infield single and Mitch Moreland lined a three-run double to left-center that skipped past Herrera and cleared the bases.
Velasquez was pulled after he walked J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts to load the bases again. Hector Neris entered and escaped the jam by retiringJackie Bradley Jr. on a shallow fly to right and striking out Rafael Devers.
