The Phillies finally had the offensive night they’d been waiting for, scoring four runs quickly and tacking on in the middle innings for three more, all of which they needed as a blowout turned into a nailbiter.
They hung on, 7-6, to finish off a sweep and win for the ninth time in 13 games.
Colorado scored once on Cristopher Sanchez in the top of the first but the Phillies came right back with home runs by Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner on Feltner’s seventh and eighth pitches of the game.
The early rally didn’t stop there. J.T. Realmuto singled, Alec Bohm doubled and Brandon Marsh singled as the Phils added two more runs to give the lowly Rockies little hope of coming back. It’s what you want to do against any team but particularly a bad one that can be put out of its misery within the game’s first hour.
The Phillies added another run in the fifth with Turner scoring on a Realmuto groundout after doubling. Schwarber popped a second homer in the sixth inning for two more runs.
The game was in hand, but Gregory Soto melted down in the eighth inning, putting five of the six hitters he faced on base. All of them scored. Jose Alvarado recorded the final three outs for his eighth consecutive scoreless outing.
This was probably the best overall night in the season’s first three weeks from the Phillies’ lineup, which entered with an MLB-low 34 extra-base hits. They hung a season-high nine runs on the Reds two weeks ago but that was essentially the Bryce Harper Show as he homered three times and drove in six. This time, it was seven different guys.
Schwarber had a multi-homer game Wednesday. Turner has hit .425 over his last 10 games with four doubles and two homers. Harper smoked a double and a homer in the middle game, both at 104 mph. Realmuto had two productive offensive nights in a row. The quality of Johan Rojas’ contact and pitch selection has improved significantly over the last week. He walked, stole a base, laced a double and an opposite-field single Wednesday night after walking and laying down a perfect bunt Tuesday.
On the mound, Sanchez authored the Phillies’ latest strong start. He had his entire arsenal working, missing bats with all three of his sinker, changeup and slider. He struck out 10 over six innings, allowing just an unearned run. He threw 97 pitches and 18 were swinging strikes, nearly double his career rate.
After walking three batters in each of his last two starts, Sanchez (1-2, 2.53 ERA) issued only one free pass to the Rockies. That was a focus and the primary key to his success in 2023 when he walked just 17 batters in 101⅓ innings.
The Phils are 11-8, three games better than at this time a year ago, and their next series is just as sweepable against the 2-15, American League-worst Chicago White Sox.
