Phillies win their seventh straight as they sweep a four-game series in Denver vs the worst team in baseball to take over the best record in the NL.
The Phillies would start a four-game series Monday night against the worst team in baseball, the Colorado Rockies. The team that plays in Coors Field only has eight wins heading into this series that started on 5/19! That being said, Denver tends to be a weird and problematic place for the Phillies in the past, and through the first six innings, it would feel that might be the case again as they trailed 3-1. Christopher Sánchez was solid again, going six innings while allowing three runs and striking out seven. However, the offense was quiet as Kyle Freeland kept the Phillies guessing. The Rockies would show their true colors, though, and when the dust settled, the Phillies would end up winning Monday night 9-3. Powered by homeruns from Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber (the 300th of his career), and Edmundo Sosa, the Phillies would destroy the Rockies’ anemic bullpen in the final three innings as Joe Ross, Carlos Hernández, and Tanner Banks would handle the final three innings with no issue.
Game two of the series, while a tad bit closer, ended up being more of the same. The bats exploded in the first inning for three runs as Bryce Harper’s double brought in two runs, and then Nick Castellanos drove him in with a sacrifice fly later in the inning. The Phillies handed the ball to Jesús Luzardo, who would again be brilliant as he struck out 10 Rockies while allowing one run over six innings. A Max Kepler double in the fourth and a Kyle Schwarber homer in the seventh brought the score to 5-1. Schwarber’s home run brought him back to being tied for the league lead in home runs with 17. Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh would both have RBI singles in the seventh that made it a 7-1 lead. While José Ruiz and Max Lazar would give up three runs between them, the Phillies would cruise to the 7-4 win and guarantee at least a split.
Playing bad teams is fun, isn’t it? The Phillies would again be up 6-2 through three innings off a menagerie of runs that were highlighted by bombs from Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. The Phillies would add on a bit by by as the offense has started to click against some bad pitching staffs. A JT Realmuto homerun capped off the offensive output, making it 9-3. Taijuan Walker would again be competent, only allowing three runs through five innings of pitching. Tanner Banks and Joe Ross would again provide shutout innings, and while Carlos Hernández would allow two runs to cross in the ninth, he would shut the door on another win, this time of 9-5, and a series victory.
Showing no mercy on the worst team in baseball would carry into the Thursday matinee as both teams would be free swinging in an attempt to wrap things up. The game lasted less than two hours and twenty minutes. Leading the charge was the violently efficient Ranger Sáurez, who ended up going 6.2 innings of shutout baseball while striking out six. After a terrible first start of the season, Ranger has been lights out, only allowing three runs over his next three starts, going at least 6.2 innings or more in each one. The Phillies’ offense would be largely quiet throughout the day, but would play its signature style; enough. A Bryce Harper RBI double in the fourth made it 1-0, and a Max Kepler RBI double in the seventh to make it 2-0 would be all they got, but all they needed. Orion Kerkering got out of a slight jam in the seventh, and then Matt Strahm shut the door in the 8th. In the 9th, the Phillies would hand the ball to Jordan Romano, and it has become formulaic over the past month. Romano would burn through the opposing team for a save and the four-game sweep.
The Phillies will finish the season 7-0 against the Rockies this year. While it is great that they did that, it isn’t that much of an indicator of anything, as the Rockies are an abysmal team. The Colorado nightmare is on pace to lose 135 games this year. The Phillies had seven home runs in this series. The Rockies have eight wins on the season. Ultimately, a sweep is a sweep, and taking advantage of bad teams is half the battle over a 162-game season. The Phillies are now two games up on the Mets and currently have the best record in the NL. The team is clicking at the moment through this weak part of the schedule. They will get yet another easy opponent this weekend when they take on the Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas A’s for a three-game series over Memorial Day weekend.