ST. PETERSBURG — 9 months and someday in the past, Zach Eflin closed out the victory that clinched the Phillies’ first journey to the postseason in 11 years. He pitched high-leverage innings all through Philadelphia’s playoff run, from Recreation 1 of the Nationwide League Wild Card Collection to Recreation 6 of the World Collection.
However Eflin mentioned he didn’t really feel as jittery throughout any of these video games as he felt dealing with his former crew for the primary time within the Rays’ 3-1 loss to the Phillies on Tuesday afternoon at Tropicana Area.
“It was like 50% pleasure and 50% nervousness,” Eflin mentioned.
Eflin’s nerves didn’t present up in his good pitching efficiency, nevertheless, as he held the red-hot Phillies to solely two runs on 4 hits whereas placing out 9 and not using a stroll over seven innings. However he was outdueled by his shut buddy and former teammate Aaron Nola, who restricted the Rays to only a Wander Franco home run whereas placing out 12 over 7 1/3 excellent innings.
Eflin was saddled with the loss, solely his fourth of the season and his first at residence for Tampa Bay, however his efficiency was one of many solely constructive takeaways because the Rays misplaced their third straight sport and for the twelfth time of their previous 22 video games.
“It sucks to have misplaced that sport, clearly,” Eflin mentioned. “However I am going to inform you what, I loved each single day I had competing with these guys. And it was enjoyable to sort of throw it again and compete in opposition to them. There’s only a bunch of large individuals over there, and on prime of that, I received to pitch in opposition to my greatest buddy.”
Fittingly, Nola began the postseason-clinching win that Eflin completed final yr. Nola is the Phillies’ longest-tenured participant. Eflin had the second-longest huge league tenure with the membership, having debuted in June 2016 earlier than turning into a free agent and signing a franchise-record three-year, $40 million cope with Tampa Bay. Eflin was a groomsman in Nola’s wedding ceremony this previous December.
So, sure, even in addition to he pitched, it was just a little bizarre for Eflin to line up in opposition to Nola after spending seven years in his nook.
“We have been with one another for thus lengthy, and he was nasty tonight, too,” Nola mentioned. “That was classic him. It was enjoyable competing in opposition to him.”
“I am so grateful for Aaron’s friendship and the mentorship and what sort of teammate he’s. You at all times root for guys like that,” Eflin mentioned. “He is been an enormous brother to me my total profession and actually helped me sort of discover myself within the huge leagues, so it was actually cool to … simply sort of watch him from a distance this time.”
Sadly for the Rays, they noticed Nola at his greatest. That they had a pair one-out scoring alternatives early on however didn’t capitalize till Franco took Nola deep to left-center area within the eighth inning for his tenth residence run of the season.
“He beat us,” Rays supervisor Kevin Money mentioned. “We do not see him fairly often, however I wish to suppose our offense can actually discover methods to get runs — and we simply did not tonight.”
Eflin stored it shut in opposition to his former teammates, throwing a season-high-tying 102 pitches over a season-high-tying seven innings. He retired the primary 5 hitters he confronted earlier than giving up a run on back-to-back doubles by Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm. Eflin then retired 14 in a row earlier than permitting one other run on a Stott single within the seventh.
Eflin mentioned it was emotional and unusual to face “all 9 hitters” in Philadelphia’s lineup, given their historical past collectively, however they’d enjoyable with it, too. Eflin famous there have been “loads of smiles, loads of little tiny feedback as individuals have been operating off the sphere,” and catcher Christian Bethancourt observed Eflin took a while for pleasantries amid his glorious efficiency.
“Each time, the primary time by way of the lineup, he was smiling and waving and saying hello to all of them,” Bethancourt mentioned. “It felt like he was like, ‘I received you guys.’ Like, ‘I am good.’ … It is attending to that time the place it is regular to see Zach go six, seven innings with a really aggressive outing.”
The following two days ought to really feel just a little extra regular for Eflin, too. After specializing in his begin within the sequence opener, he’ll have loads of time to meet up with his previous pals. He’ll obtain his 2022 NL champions ring earlier than Wednesday’s sport.
“It was loads of enjoyable seeing a bunch of acquainted faces,” Eflin mentioned, “and I am wanting ahead to the subsequent few days.”
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Revealed : 2023-07-05 01:30:14
