Make up for it
Bryce Harper had a rough night last night. Frankly, he’s had a rough start to the second half. He made up for it tonight however with his 24th home run in the fourth inning, a two-run shot that scored Trea Turner after a leadoff single. It was the 100th home run of Harper’s career at Citizens Bank Park. He is just the third player to accomplish the feat, joining Chase Utley (129) and Ryan Howard (198).
The homer seemed to open the floodgates for the Phillies offense, as it was the first of three long balls they launched in the fourth inning. Brandon Marsh followed with his own two-run blast three batters later. It was Marsh’s tenth HR of the season and snapped his 0-25 skid that started after the All-Star break.
Nick Castellanos followed with a single and Bryson Stott legged out an infield single to put two on with one out. Hays hit a grounder to third that looked like a double play, but he was able to beat the throw at first to extend the inning. This knocked former Phillies prospect Carlos Carrasco out of the game after allowing 6 runs in 3.2 innings.
Nick Sandlin entered to face Kyle Schwarber and look for the final out. Unfortunately for him, Schwarber blasted a three-run shot to center to push the lead to 7-0 and allow the Phillies to bat around.
Castellanos later added a home run of his own in the sixth, his 15th of the season and second in his last six games.
Tomorrow’s matchup
The Phillies will go for the series win over the AL’s best, as they will send Kolby Allard to the mound in place of Ranger Suárez against Joey Cantillo for Cleveland. Cantillo will be making his Major League debut. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35.
It’s no secret that the Phillies starting rotation has been hit with injuries. They’ve had to reach deeper into the depth chart than they would’ve wanted to. Hours before today’s game, they lost Ranger Suárez to the injured list. For most teams, having to run out your 8th starter would likely result in disaster.
Luckily for the Phillies, they have Tyler Phillips.
The South Jersey native and lifelong Phillies fan continued his tremendous start to his MLB career with a complete game shutout in his second start at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies offense backed the young righty with four home runs, three of which came in the fourth inning when the bats exploded for 7 runs. Newcomer Austin Hays got the Phillies first hit of the game for Philadelphia in the third and later stole his first base of the season.
Local hero
Phillips was in control right from the start, as he retired the side on just nine pitches in the first despite allowing a leadoff single to Steven Kwan. The quick inning was possible thanks to a double play by Angel Martinez, the first of two double plays Martinez would hit into on the night.
Cleveland collected another leadoff single in the second off Phillips, but he once again induced a double play, this time with an assist from Bryce Harper. The Phillies first baseman caught a Daniel Schneemann line drive in foul territory and touched first to complete the twin killing.
Phillips entered the ninth at 90 pitches and retired Austin Hedges and Tyler Freeman on strikeouts before getting Martinez to fly out to Hays in left field.
Only one Guardians player reached second base the entire game, as Jose Ramirez stole second in the fourth after hitting a single. All four hits that Phillips allowed were singles and he walked just one batter. He collected four strikeouts on the night, but he excelled in inducing weak contact, racking up 10 groundball outs on 105 pitches. Phillips utilized his sinker and sweeper combination to perfection, as he threw the pitches a combined 65 times and generated a total of 8 whiffs on 33 swings with 14 balls in play.
The 26-year-old rookie is now 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in four appearances with the Phillies.
The 26-year-old rookie Tyler Phillips is now 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in four appearances with the Phillies.
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