Phillies

Franco Finishes Comeback Win With Walkoff Homer to Keep Phillies in First-Place

By Bob Wankel

Published: Aug 2nd, 2018 · 10:41 PM EDT

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Trailing 2-1 in the 9th inning against the Miami Marlins and in danger of falling out of first-place in the NL East for the first time since July 6, the Phillies tied the game on a Nick Williams’ RBI groundout. That brought to the plate Maikel Franco, and let me just say, thank god they kept this guy:

Franco walks ‘em off! pic.twitter.com/cz9mDIstHQ

— Marc Farzetta (@MarcFarzetta) August 3, 2018

Also, behold this bat flip:

We cooked up a BatCast™ jawn for this epic @Phillies walk-off. pic.twitter.com/csHEVbNKMm

— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 3, 2018

I call it “Celebration.” It’s sexual and violent. I thought you might like it.

Franco has been a flat-out stud since late June. The Phillies’ once-forgotten third baseman is now hitting .277 on the season with an .813 OPS. He resurrected his season on the strength of a blistering month of July in which he slashed .330/.378/.593. His K% dropped to a season-best 11.2% in 98 July plate appearances, and his hard-hit % has incrementally increased every month this season.

This wasn’t a bad start to August, I’d say.