Inside The Phillies

Unlikely Hero Saves Philadelphia Phillies With Clutch Hit

Cristian Pache came up big for the Philadelphia Phillies with the game on the line.

Tyler Maher

Apr 15, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Cristian Pache (42).
Apr 15, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Cristian Pache (42). / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
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No matter how many big names and expensive stars a team has, sometimes it's the little guy who ends up making the difference.

That was the case in the Philadelphia Phillies' 2-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night. The Phillies' recent slump continued, producing just two runs and six hits (five singles) in 10 innings against one of the worst teams in baseball. Bryce Harper put Philadelphia on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the third, but the starters not named Bryson Stott combined for just three hits.

Aaron Nola delivered another gem, firing 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball while racking up nine strikeouts. It wasn't quite good enough to win the game in regulation, however, so it went to extra innings with the score knotted at 1-1.

That's where Cristian Pache came in.

The seldom-used bench player pinch ran for Kyle Schwarber in the eighth and came up in the order with Stott on third and two outs in the bottom of the 10th.

Pache did what his teammates couldn't and produced a big hit, lacing an RBI single to right field that gave the Phillies a much-needed 2-1 win.

Pache's first career walk-off hit pushed Philadelphia back over .500 to 9-8. It also marked the Phillies' first win this year in a game where they scored three or fewer runs, snapping an 0-7 streak.

The 25-year-old hasn't had a lot of highlights during his MLB career, batting just .173/.233/.271 lifetime coming into Monday's action.

Nobody's going to mistake him for Harper or Schwarber, but when the team needed him, he got the job done.

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Tyler Maher
TYLER MAHER

Tyler is a writer for Sports Illustrated's Inside the Phillies. He grew up in Massachusetts and is a huge Boston sports fan, especially the Red Sox. He went to Tufts University and played club baseball for the Jumbos. Since graduating, he has worked for MLB.com, The Game Day, FanDuel and Forbes. When he's not writing about baseball, he enjoys running, traveling, and playing fetch with his golden retriever.

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