Welcome to the Boston Red Sox Brandon Phillips

 Brandon Phillips made a splash in his Boston Red Sox debut, hitting the go-ahead homer against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday afternoon.

Watching this 2018 Boston Red Sox team win games in the clutch has almost come as second nature.

On Wednesday afternoon, former Cincinnati Red Brandon Phillips made his official debut as the Sox second baseman, and a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the ninth against the Atlanta Braves, finishing off a miraculous 9-8 come-from-behind victory.

The win looked out of reach for most of the game, as Sox starter Hector Velazquez only pitched four innings, and gave up two runs in the first without even recording an out. Velazquez has had a relatively solid year (he has a record of 7-2 with a 3.30 ERA), but according to MLB.com, the second-year player has been 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in his last seven starts. He’s also given up 11 earned runs in his last 18 innings pitched, not including Wednesday’s game.

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Drew Pomeranz was also abysmal in this game, pitching 1/3 of an inning, giving up five earned runs without a single strikeout. He’s had an equally as frustrating seven-game stretch, where he has a 7.11 ERA not including Wednesday, and a 5.34 overall ERA for the 2018 season, according to Baseball-Reference.

Alex Cora will have to figure out what to do with these two come playoff time. Seemingly, they’ve just been used as replacements for some of the regular starters like Chris Sale and David Price (the former especially needs to be healthy for October).

Luckily, the bats finally came alive in the eighth, with a parade of hits including a Blake Swihart two-run double, an Andrew Benintendi RBI single, and an Ian Kinsler RBI single. Going into the bottom part of the inning, the game was tied 7-7. Then pinch hitter Freddie Freeman hit a go-ahead homer to put Atlanta up 8-7.

The lead was short-lived however, as Phillips smashed a monstrous left field home run off of A.J. Minch to put the Boston Red Sox up 9-8. That lead would stick for good, as Craig Kimbrel came into shutout the Braves in the bottom half of the inning, and record his 38th save of the season.

A long road for Phillips

After playing 11 seasons with the Phillies, where he recorded four Gold Gloves and made three all-star teams, Phillips was sent to Atlanta in February of 2017. The Braves then traded the second baseman to the Los Angeles Angels in August of that same year, before he became a free agent after the season.

The Red Sox then picked him up in June of 2018 and placed him in Pawtucket, where he was hitting .302. From there, Boston made him active on their roster on Tuesday and had Phillips start at second base on Wednesday. He went 1-3 with two walks and the two-run homer in front of his family and friends during the afternoon.

For Boston, this win brings their record to 97-44 and extends their AL East lead to a comfortable nine games in front of the New York Yankees. As for Atlanta, there lead in the NL East is a slim 2.5 games, and Philadelphia is on their heels for the division title. Both teams are trying to hang tight before the season is out.

According to Kevin Neghndi, MLB teams were 487-0 when leading by at least six runs entering the eighth inning in 2018. Due to bullpen blunder from Atlanta, make that record 487-1.