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HOUSTON – It was chaos around them, champagne and beer splashed everywhere, but Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin met in the middle of the visitors’ clubhouse at Minute Maid Park. It’s 10:28 p.m. CT, 18 minutes after Eflin’s 27th hit to end the Phillies’ seemingly insurmountable postseason drought, and the party has just begun.
The two hackers are good friends. They are two longtime players on the roster. They have seen this franchise fall in unimaginable ways. Now, they grab two Budweisers each, and hug. Nola looked at Eflin, said a few words and they hugged again.
They did it. together.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Rhys Hoskins, the team’s longtime first baseman. “This game is really cool.”
The Phillies didn’t draft him that way. Before the game, when interim manager Rob Thompson met with pitching coach Caleb Cottam, they decided on one thing: They really liked the idea of putting Eflin in a key position against the Astros on Monday night.
Eflin, in his two weeks as a setup man, has exceeded every benchmark. His right knee was unharmed, supported by a brace he wore under his baseball pants.
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