In the ninth inning on Sunday, the Phillies were clinging to a 1-0 lead that they had to scratch and claw to get. Mick Abel had been fantastic in his MLB debut and had narrowly out-dueled Pirates phenom Paul Skenes. The Phillies needed three scoreless innings from their bullpen on the day they learned they will be without José Alvarado for the foreseeable future. Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm did their job in the seventh and eighth innings, so that left the ninth inning to Jordan Romano.
And Romano delivered his strongest performance as a Phillie, striking out the side on just 11 pitches to slam the door on a sweep.