PHILADELPHIA -- Justin Crawford flung his helmet into the air.
He had just laced a walk-off single to right field in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s 6-5 victory over the Nationals at Citizens Bank Park, capping a remarkable week that he never could have imagined. But he ran with it, so he jumped up to greet J.T. Realmuto between first and second base before Adolis García and Alec Bohm grabbed ahold of him and shook him senseless.
Trea Turner, Brandon Marsh and Dylan Moore got to Crawford next, yanking on his jersey, then pushing him into another pile of teammates.
“That was special,” Crawford said. “Definitely something I’ll remember for a very long time. Very, very cool to see all the boys running out. It was a really special moment.”
What a day.
What a week.
Crawford has played just five games in his big league career, but it couldn’t have gone much better. He got a hit on the first pitch he saw in the first plate appearance of his MLB career on Opening Day last Thursday. He got two hits that day. He made a great catch at the wall on Saturday. He got another hit on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively, before he went 3-for-5 on Wednesday, not only picking up the first extra-base hit of his career, but helping the Phillies win a series they really needed to win.
“It’s gone by fast,” Crawford said. “I’m trying to enjoy it, but still also trying to stay focused each and every day to be ready to play.”
Crawford, 22, is the youngest Phillies player with a walk-off RBI since Hall of Famer Scott Rolen on June 5, 1997. Crawford is just the third Phillies rookie this century to pick up seven or more hits in his first five MLB games, joining Nick Maton (2021) and Jimmy Rollins (2000).
“Outstanding,” manager Rob Thomson said.
Crawford allowed the Phillies (3-3) to open a six-game road trip on Friday in Colorado with a .500 record. They trailed in the seventh inning, 5-1, before J.T. Realmuto hit a solo homer. Bryce Harper did the same in the eighth to cut the deficit to two.
It was the first homer of the season for each player.
“It was good,” Harper said. “A first-pitch curveball. [I'm] still chasing a little too much, but I feel good. We’ll get going.”
It hadn’t been a good week for the Phillies’ offense, which is batting .220 overall. (Remarkably, it ranks 17th in MLB.) Turner (.192), Kyle Schwarber (.182), Harper (.120), Bohm (.095) and Bryson Stott (.200) have struggled in the first five spots in the Phillies’ lineup, which explains a lot.
But the Phillies had loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth inning when Edmundo Sosa stroked an 0-2 sweeper to left field for a game-tying two-run single.
“I step out of the box and I try to calm myself down a little, just try to slow things down,” Sosa said via team interpreter Diego D'Aniello. “And when I'm back at the plate, I'm thinking, 'Once I see the ball, I just try to put it in play.' And you know, this is just a sign that hard work pays off.”
Sosa then made a fantastic leaping catch at second base in the top of the 10th to double-up the Nationals’ automatic runner, setting up Crawford’s heroics on the bottom half.
“I looked at my card toward the positioning,” Sosa said. “That’s how it all started. I was ready to make a play. … I was just ready at the moment to give it my best. I just gave my best jump, timed it perfectly and we were able to double them off. The stadium went crazy and my teammates went crazy. That was a very emotional moment, a very exciting moment for us. So as soon as that happened for us, I knew that we were going to go away with a win, just because of how we were able to turn that thing around.”
Realmuto started the 10th with a single to right to put runners at the corners. Crawford then singled on Cole Henry’s first-pitch cutter.
“He put a good swing on it and it got through,” Henry said. “A good hit."
The Phillies packed their bags afterward for a six-game road trip beginning on Friday night in Colorado. If the Phillies had lost on Wednesday, the world would not have ended. But a win like Wednesday’s allowed them to fly to Colorado in a better frame of mind.
“It’s huge,” Crawford said.