Rhys Hoskins motivated by Braves' intentional walk, raucous Phillies crowd in Game 3 win

PHILADELPHIA — It's not like Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins needed extra motivation but when the Atlanta Braves walked Kyle Schwarber intentionally, just before Hoskins stepped to the plate in the third inning of Game 3 of the NLDS on Friday, his focus narrowed just a little bit more.

«Yes, of course,» Hoskins said after the Phillies 9-1 win. «I'm human. I'm a competitor. They're obviously telling me something right away before I even step in the box.»

The move told Hoskins the Braves would rather face him than Kyle Schwarber who was 0 for 17 in the series to that point. One of the longest tenured Phillies made Atlanta pay when Hoskins jumped on starter Spencer Strider's first pitch for a three run home run, igniting a raucous Philadelphia crowd.

Strider was returning from an injury and hadn't pitched since Sept. 18. After two solid innings on Friday, he began to tire.

«We wanted him to go four, originally,» Braves manager Brian Snitker said. «And then I thought if he could get out of that third then that's going to be it. But it didn't happen.»

Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Strider's stuff «went down a little bit» in that fateful inning and his hitters were ready. Hoskins pounced on a fastball, barely remembering his soon-to-be viral bat spike after hitting the ball into the left field stands.

«I didn't know what I did until a couple innings later, really,» Hoskins stated. «It's just something that came out, just raw. But God, it was fun.»

Right fielder Bryce Harper celebrated by doing a flip of his own.

«I threw my bat at the same time that Rhys did, and my helmet,» Harper said. «I was really excited.»

A few moments later, Harper added to the mayhem with his own long ball, a 2-run shot off