Johan Rojas delivers RBI single in 10th as Phillies beat Pirates to clinch playoff berth

The Philadelphia Phillies couldn’t buy a hit through the first five innings but ended up punching their ticket to the postseason in extra innings.

Johan Rojas delivered a one-out RBI single off All-Star closer David Bednar to score automatic runner Cristian Pache in the 10th inning to lift the Phillies to a 3-2 walk-off win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night before 32,116 at Citizens Bank Park.

The Pirates (74-83), eliminated over the weekend, could only watch as the Phillies (88-69) celebrated clinching a wild-card berth at home to return to the playoffs after reaching the World Series last season.

“When you see an organization have the success that you’re looking forward to and chasing,” Pirates rookie Henry Davis said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show, “it’s just a feeling that I don’t really know how to describe it, honestly. It kind of sucks, but it gives you something to focus on.”

Pirates starter Mitch Keller held the Phillies hitless through the first five innings before giving up two runs in the sixth. Bryan Reynolds and Davis answered with solo home runs to tie the game, which went into extra innings when rookie right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski stranded a pair of Phillies runners in the bottom of the ninth.

Not only did Keller keep the Phillies hitless through five innings, but he also recorded the most strikeouts in a single season by a Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher in the process. Keller had six strikeouts to reach a career-best 210. He passed A.J. Burnett’s 209 in 2013 for the most by a Pirates righty in a season by getting Nick Castellanos looking at a called third strike on a cutter to end the fifth.

“I think it validates all the hard work he put in over the offseason and how consistent he was through the year,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “You don’t get to that number unless you’re really consistent throughout the year, and Mitch has been really consistent. It’s just another building block for him.”

Mixing his cutter, four-seamer and sinker, Keller induced 12 whiffs and 13 called strikes on 92 pitches. He allowed only two walks through the first five innings, both to Phillies superstar Bryce Harper. Both times, Keller got Alec Bohm to ground into an inning-ending play.

But Keller threw a cutter that sailed high and outside on his first pitch of the sixth. A mound visit by catcher Endy Rodriguez prompted Shelton and assistant athletic trainer Tony Leo to check on Keller, who threw a practice pitch and remained in the game.

“My arm must’ve got out of the natural arm slot that I threw on, and on the follow through I clipped my elbow and sent a zinger down my arm,” Keller said. “It kind of freaked me out a little bit. Once they walked out, it started going away so I knew it was fine. Then I threw that one fastball to warm up and was like, ‘It’s fine.’ I knew exactly what happened. Why it happens, I have no idea. Just stupid.”

Brandon Marsh drove Keller’s next pitch, a 91.7-mph fastball over the middle, 412 feet to center field to end the no-hit bid and give the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

“He made a bad pitch in the middle of the plate,” Shelton said. “Until then he’d been really good.”

Rojas followed with an infield single, but Kyle Schwarber grounded into a forceout at second. Trea Turner singled to advance Schwarber to third, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Harper on a lineout to center to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

Reynolds cut that lead in half with one swing, sending Aaron Nola’s 1-0 curveball 431 feet to center for his 24th home run to lead off the seventh. It marked the ninth consecutive game with a homer for the Pirates. Jack Suwinski singled, but Nola got Jared Triolo swinging for his eighth strikeout without a walk. The Phillies turned to lefty Matt Strahm, who got pinch hitter Connor Joe to line out to third to end the rally.

Righty reliever Dauri Moreta replaced Keller in the seventh. Bryson Stott reached on an error when first baseman Triolo stopped a sharp grounder down the line but his underhand throw was too high for Moreta to handle. Moreta recovered to get the next three batters out, sandwiching called third strikes on full-count sliders to J.T. Realmuto and Marsh around a Nick Castellanos pop-up to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes in foul territory.

The Phillies brought in Craig Kimbrel, coming off a blown save Friday against the New York Mets, in the eighth inning, only for the nine-time All-Star closer to give up a game-tying home run when Davis drilled a 1-0 knuckle curve 379 feet down the left field line to make it 2-2.

Phillies lefty Jose Alvarado struck out Reynolds and Hayes and got Suwinski to line out to short in the top of the ninth. After getting the final two outs in the eighth, the Pirates left Ryan Borucki in to start the ninth, and he got Harper to ground out.

Mlodzinski got Bohm to ground out to short, but Stott dropped a two-out single into shallow left and walked Realmuto on four pitches. After a visit from Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin, Mlodzinski got Castellanos looking at a four-seam fastball on the outside corner for a called third strike to send the game into extra innings.

“They didn’t get scared,” Shelton said of Davis and Mlodzinski, a pair of former first-round picks. “This is a rowdy environment, when they’re trying to clinch a playoff spot. Our group played them toe to toe the entire game. I’m proud of the way they played.”

The Pirates started the 10th with Suwinski at second as the automatic runner. Triolo drew a leadoff walk off Jeff Hoffman (5-2), who got Joe and Rodriguez to fly out to center. With runners on second and third, Hoffman got Davis swinging at a 2-2 slider to escape.

Bednar struck out Marsh to start the 10th, but Rojas hit a 1-2 fastball to score Pache from second, clinching the win to start the celebration.

“You never want to see a team celebrate going into the postseason,” Shelton said, “but with what our aspirations are and with a bunch of young players, you get a little bit of a chance for them to see this is what it’s about.”