Otto Kemp’s first trip to Phillies’ ballpark worth the wait as he shines in walk-off win

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PHILADELPHIA — Phillies third baseman Otto Kemp waited. 

As Chicago Cubs pitcher Daniel Palencia and catcher Carson Kelly sorted out PitchCom issues. As Citizens Bank Park grew raucous around him. As Palencia reset, as Phillies teammates Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto inched away from their bases and closer to home and a walk-off win in Monday’s 11th inning. 

Really, Kemp had been waiting a while. Nearly three years to visit Citizens Bank Park after his August 2022 signing, holding off so his debut would be more meaningful. A lifetime for his major-league debut, Saturday in Pittsburgh, and perhaps just as long to lay down a good bunt. 

He had never bunted in a minor-league game. Had not bunted in a game, period, since playing summer ball in St. Cloud, Minn., in 2021 — a ball he popped up straight to the catcher. 

But the Division II player turned undrafted signee with the Phillies turned major leaguer laid one down, sending the Cubs’ infield scrambling as he hustled to first to load the bases with the score 3-3. 

“Just trying to get on top of it and execute,” he said. 

Otto Kemp bunts in the 11th for his third hit of the night. (Kyle Ross / Imagn Images)

The Phillies needed someone, anyone, to step up. To get out of their own way. To grind out a win and snap a five-game losing streak. It was not pretty nor easy, but it was achievable as they walked off the Cubs 4-3 in the 11th on Monday. 

Nine of 12 Phillies batters combined for 16 hits. Fifteen of those 16 hits were singles. The Phillies went 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position, a category they sit 29th in the majors this month, but they prevailed. 

“We had 19 base runners tonight and scored (four) runs,” manager Rob Thomson said. “That’s kind of hard to do. But I did like our at-bats a lot.” 

Back-to-back bunts in the 11th and a Brandon Marsh game-winning hit saved a roller-coaster night for an offense that seemingly couldn’t get out of its own way. 

Edmundo Sosa and Nick Castellanos tried to turn surefire singles into doubles on the basepaths six innings apart. The Cubs easily tagged out both at second. Trea Turner couldn’t make his way back to first in time in the third, a pickoff that ended the inning. 

The at-bats took time to come together, too. The Phillies loaded the bases in the fourth but only scored one run as two ground-ball outs followed, including one off a first pitch. Outside changeups became easily fielded grounders in the sixth. A three-pitch strikeout in the seventh had Alec Bohm slamming his bat and spiking his helmet into fragments. 

Some signs of life for the Phillies’ offense provided a respite. With Bryce Harper on the injured list with right wrist pain, it’s going to take everyone. The Phillies embraced that Monday. Weston Wilson had his first hit since May 23. Marsh, who entered Monday batting .216 with a .638 OPS, found some joy with his first career walk-off hit. 

And perhaps no one understood the assignment better than Kemp, who went hitless in his first two major-league games after slashing .313/.416/.594 with a 1.010 OPS  for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. 

The boos ricocheted around the ballpark when he committed an error in the second, losing a ball in the lights and allowing Kelly to reach base. Two innings later, he was careening toward the ground, arm extended, to catch a Dansby Swanson line-out. Then came his first career hit — and a wild trip from first to third on a failed pickoff — and the second, the third soon followed. 

Otto Kemp high-fives first-base coach Paco Figueroa after his first major-league hit. (Kyle Ross / Imagn Images)

Kemp rode out the error, rough at-bats in his first MLB game, facing Pirates ace Paul Skenes in his second. Going undrafted out of Point Loma Nazarene University, practicing bunting over the past few days after not doing so in a game in years, even getting lost before Realmuto helped him find the clubhouse Monday. 

He did it.

“It’s unbelievable, the energy that I felt today, support from all these fans,” Kemp said. “The buzz is crazy. That was another reason why I didn’t want to experience (Citizens Bank Park) before the first big-league game.” 

The boos seem a lot smaller when the crowd is frantic over a bases-loaded, walk-off win. So, too, do the Phillies’ recent woes, when you’re staring at sparkling stadium lights. It was just one game. Nothing was perfect or flashy. But it was perhaps a step out of rock bottom, a step closer to where they need to be. 

(Top photo of Otto Kemp and Brandon Marsh: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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