Phillies keep beating Rockies after lineup’s best night of the season originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Phillies finally got the offensive night they had been waiting for, scoring four runs quickly and moving forward in the middle of the inning for three more, all of which they needed when a blowout turned into a nailbiter.
They held on 7-6 to finish off a sweep of the Rockies and win for the ninth time in 13 games.
Colorado scored once on Cristopher Sanchez in the first, but the Phillies rallied with home runs by Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner on Ryan Feltner’s seventh and eighth pitches of the game.
The initial demonstration did not stop there. JT Realmuto singled, Alec Bohm doubled and Brandon Marsh scored as the Phils added two more runs to give the lowly Rockies little hope of coming back. That’s what you want to do against any team, but especially against a bad team that can put you out of your misery in the first hour of the game.
The Phillies added another run in the fifth, with Turner scoring on a Realmuto pitch after doubling. Schwarber hit a second home run in the sixth inning for two more runs.
“I think we have confidence in ourselves, it’s just a matter of doing it, obviously,” Turner said. “Tonight it was more us. You’re going to have nights where you have to fight and play small ball and you’re going to have nights like this when you drive the ball. That’s why we’re a good team, we can win in a lot of different ways. Tonight was fun. .”
The game was under control, but Gregory Soto melted down in the eighth inning, putting five of the six batters he faced on base. They all scored. José Alvarado recorded the last three outs for his eighth consecutive scoreless game.
This was probably the best overall night in the first three weeks of the season for the Phillies lineup, which entered with an MLB-low 34 extra-base hits. They put up a season-high nine runs against the Reds two weeks ago, but that was essentially the Bryce Harper Show, as he scored three times and struck out six. This time there were seven different guys.
Schwarber had a multi-homer game on Wednesday. Turner has hit .425 in his last 10 games with four doubles and two homers.
“I feel like the last few games I was making the shots I wanted to make maybe 50 percent of the time,” Turner said. “I wasn’t fully there. Tonight it felt like I repeated my swing every time. I got some good shots to hit and I didn’t miss them. That’s the key, when you get those shots, you have to capitalize on them. I controlled what I could control it and it really made me feel good.”
The quality of Johan Rojas’ contact and pitch selection has improved significantly over the past week. He walked, stole a base, hit a double and an opposite-field single on Wednesday night after walking and throwing a perfect play on Tuesday.
“Great night,” said coach Rob Thomson. “I took advantage of a little hanging slider for a double, drew a walk and another well-hit ball to the opposite field. I guess you’ll have to see him night after night for a while to find out, but he’s certainly better and right now, he’s holding his own.”
Turner spoke to Rojas in the cage on Wednesday morning, and while he didn’t divulge exactly what was said, he saw immediate dividends.
“I think he’s pretty relaxed, he just wants to play well, like anyone else,” Turner said. “I don’t think he’s necessarily pushing, he’s just trying to find his way. I talked to him a little bit in the cage today, we worked on some things and I feel like it showed right away. the left-center was very good, so a strong AB on the next at-bat and hitting another strong ball the other way is a good sign.
On the mound, Sanchez was the author of the Phillies’ last strong start. He had his entire arsenal working, missing bats with all three sinkers, changeups and sliders. He struck out 10 in six innings, allowing just one unearned run. He threw 97 pitches and 18 were strikes, nearly double his career rate.
After walking three batters in each of his last two starts, Sanchez (1-2, 2.53 ERA) issued just one free pass for the Rockies. That was the focus and the main key to his success in 2023, when he struck out just 17 times in 101⅓ innings.
“I think confidence is key for him right now, it’s really good,” Turner said. “I think last year he learned that he can pitch in the league and be very good. He doesn’t get accelerated at the moment. His matches were very good for us, real quality matches.”
The Phils are 11-8, three games better than they were a year ago, and their next series is equally won against the American League-worst Chicago White Sox, 3-15.
