It was a muggy July afternoon last season when Lumberton's own Tyler Phillips took the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies, the team he's been supporting since he could grip a baseball. He came in to finish out a bullpen game in which, after a five-run second inning, the bats for both teams were quiet.
He allowed just one run over four innings and struck out seven batters in his MLB debut, which was the most by any Phillies pitcher in relief in their MLB debut. After what anyone would call a dream start, Phillips' tenure in Philadelphia started to falter, with a 6.