Aug 28, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielders Brandon Marsh, Max Kepler and Harrison Bader talk during warmups at Citizens Bank Park. (Grace Del Pizzo/On Pattison)
The Philadelphia Phillies' successful outfield platoon experiment was on full display in Wednesday night's win over the New York Mets.
The Mets have looked utterly hapless at the plate during this four-game series. That didn't change Wednesday, and facing Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez certainly did not help.
Sánchez was on his A game, throwing six innings of four-hit, one-run ball. He walked just one batter and racked up six strikeouts, earning five of them with his sinker:
Cristopher Sánchez is very good.
(via @PitchingNinja)pic.twitter.com/Crxms84ta4
On the other side of the ball, the Phillies got things going early. New leadoff man Harrison Bader started the game with a hit. One Kyle Schwarber walk and one Bryce Harper hit by pitch later, the bases were loaded for J.T. Realmuto:
J.T. delivers a bases-loaded knock and gets the Phils on the board! pic.twitter.com/8cn3E5gPyy
Two batters later, Mets starter Clay Holmes hit Max Kepler with a pitch to bring in another run for the Phillies.
In the bottom of the fifth, Brandon Marsh brought Realmuto home with an RBI double, and then Kepler brought Marsh home with an RBI single, putting the Phils up 4-1:
Big Dawg > Big Apple pic.twitter.com/x3j1VGqRbq
Max > Mets pic.twitter.com/69Q6Cw1Px4
Then, one inning later, the outfield duo collected yet another pair of back-to-back hits. After Bader and Realmuto were both hit by pitches – the third and fourth HBPs doled out by Mets pitchers Wednesday night – Marsh hit an RBI single, and Kepler followed it up with an RBI double:
*insert Tiger Woods saying "big dog" here* pic.twitter.com/HjxwOrScM3
Max KepleRBI pic.twitter.com/1WJuIu6L2W
Bryce Harper joined the party in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run:
Bryce Harper's solo shot adds on🤟 pic.twitter.com/KkcTC6Sp1d
Although the Phillies led by eight runs and the damage was already done, Juan Soto tee'd off on José Alvarado in the top of the eighth to make the score 9-2. Apparently Kepler decided he liked an eight-run lead better, so he deposited a ball into the right-field seats:
That’s five (count ‘em, FIVE) RBIs for Max Kepler tonight!pic.twitter.com/hHyygRfRpQ
That home run marked Kepler's fifth RBI of the evening. In one night, Kepler matched his RBI total from the entire month of July.
All in all, the Phillies' outfield of Bader, Marsh and Kepler went 8-for-14, hit one home run, and accounted for seven of the Phillies' 11 runs.
Wednesday's win put the Phillies 10 games ahead of the Mets in the NL East. Next up, the Phillies and Mets will complete their four-game series Thursday evening at Citizens Bank Park.
