Altherr, Pivetta Help Phillies Down Kershaw and the Dodgers

While understandably, most of the attention has been on the incredible feats of Rhys Hoskins in the last two months of the Phillies' season, it has, to a degree, overshadowed the accomplishments of his teammates.  Take Aaron Altherr, for instance. In the first half of the season, Altherr was the Phillies offense, with speculation as to whether he would be the team's All-Star representative. Injuries cooled down his season, and forced him to the disabled list. Now that Altherr has returned, he has added to the explosive potential of the young Phillies line-up. 

Last night, Altherr ripped Clayton Kershaw for the first ever grand slam against the Dodgers' ace, made possible, in part, by a Hoskins walk. It was the second grand slam in Altherr's career. Both have been historic; the first being a rare inside-the-park slam against the Nationals in 2015. Altherr's blast gave the Phillies all the runs they needed to give Nick Pivetta his sixth win of the season.

The result was initially in doubt, as Pivetta gave up back-to-back home runs in the first inning, with the first being an inside-the-park dinger. But Pivetta settled down, limiting the NL West leading Dodgers to just two more hits while racking up eight strike outs over six innings. 

The Phillies have show signs of life as the season winds down, with the likes of Maikel Franco, Nick Williams and Cesar Hernandez all contributing to an offensive resurgence. This has given fans hope that if the Phillies can improve on the pitching over the off-season, the team just might show real improvement in 2018, and, dare we dream, compete for a wild card slot. 

Rhys Hoskins, meanwhile, broke his three game hitless streak, going one for two with a single and the crucial walk to set the table for Altherr. Having hitters, like Altherr, Williams and Franco, available to surround the patient young hitter in the line-up has certainly helped improve the offense. 

With twelve games left in the season, the Phils only need four more wins to stave off one hundred losses, a fate that seemed a certainty for most of the year. 

William J. Kovatch, Jr. 

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