Phillies take 2/3 from the Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas A’s as they round out a 6-1 road trip.
The Phillies entered Friday night on a seven-game win streak as they looked to continue to take advantage of this road trip against bad teams. They would immediately jump on the A’s as leadoff hitter Trea Turner took the fourth pitch of the game, he saw over the centerfield wall to put the Phillies up 1-0. That would be it, though, until the ninth inning of the affair, as A’s lefty Jacob Lopez would go seven innings as he gave the Phillies fits while striking out eight. The Phillies wouldn’t have to worry as Zack Wheeler was on the mound and the Phillies’ ace flattened a meager A’s offense, throwing 6.2 innings of shutout baseball while striking out eight. Wheeler has now lowered his ERA on the season to 2.42. A number that is good enough for fifth in the NL, while his 88 Ks are currently second. As usual, he leads the NL in innings pitched. In the eighth inning, Johan Rojas would make a spectacular catch in center to preserve the 1-0 lead. The Phillies hoped for some insurance, though, as a 1-0 lead is strenuous even against a bad team like the A’s, and in the ninth, they would do just that. Alec Bohm would double in JT Realmuto to make it 2-0, and then Bohm would be swiftly driven in by a single from Johan Rojas to push it to 3-0. Trea Turner would single in Rojas, and the Phillies would take a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. The Phils would hand the ball to what had been the steady hand of Jordan Romano for nearly a month now. Romano would allow a single and then a walk, and looked to have leveled things off after getting Miguel Andujar to strike out. However, Nick Kurtz would then crush a ball to center field, making it 4-3. The Phillies would then hand the ball to Tanner Banks, who would quickly wrap things up and secure the Phillies’ 4-3 win and their eighth in a row.
Saturday was less of a pitching duel, but equally as exciting. The Phillies would again jump out quickly, netting two runs in the first for a 2-0 lead. The Phillies would get another run in the fourth off a home run from Alec Bohm. Cristopher Sánchez would go to the mound, but look somewhat vulnerable in the Sacramento evening. He only made it 4.2 innings, and while he struck out six, he allowed two earned runs and gave up 10 baserunners. At the end of the 5th, the game was tied 3-3, but Kyle Schwarber quickly made it 4-3 in the top of the sixth with his 18th homerun of the season. That would be short-lived lived though, as the combination of José Ruiz and Carlos Henández could not maintain things, and the sixth would end with the A’s up 5-4. Bryce Harper would again tie things up in the seventh with an RBI single at 5-5. In the bottom of the eighth, Brent Rooker would take Joe Ross deep to take the lead 6-5. In the ninth, the A’s would hand the ball to the electric, young arm of Mason Miller. He would make short work of Brandon Marsh, but Max Kepler would come off the bench and ambush the first pitch he saw, hitting an absolute tank shot off Miller and tying the game at 6-6 in the top half of the ninth. The Phillies would leave the bases loaded, though, as they could only tie the game before the bottom half. Tanner Banks would make swift work in the bottom half, and the game would move to the tenth. The Phillies would do absolutely nothing in the top of the 10th, and after a single off of Orion Kerkering moved the ghost runner on second to third and an intentional walk loaded the bases with no one out and Brent Rooker at the plate, things seemed unsalvageable. Kerkering would get Rooker to hit a shallow fly ball to center field that Brandon Marsh would then catch. Logan Davidson would book it home in what looked like just enough of a pop fly to bring home the winning run, but an absolute rope from Marsh got him at the plate. What was no outs with the bases loaded turned into two outs with no runners scored. Kerkering would get the final out, and they would move to the top of the 11th. That would seemingly take the heart of the A’s as a Kyle Schwarber two-run double and Nick Castellanos sacrifice fly made it 9-6. Max Lazar would get his first career save as the Phillies would move their winning streak to nine.
Sunday, the Phillies would finally run out of luck. Jesús Luzardo would be great, though, as he would allow three runs in the first inning, but then nothing else through seven innings and striking out ten batters. The Phillies’ offense would fight back inning by inning until they tied it at 3-3 in the top of the fifth. The Phillies would then take the lead in the eighth inning after a Trea Turner solo shot made it 4-3. Things would go south, though, as in the bottom of the eighth, Matt Strahm would give up the lead, giving up two and giving the A’s the 5-4 lead, and that was ultimately it as the Phillies would go down quietly in the ninth.
An incredibly successful road trip as the Phillies took six of seven. This team continues to groove as they have now gone 10-2 over their last twelve games. This can be taken with a grain of salt as they have played some terrible teams, but even then, that is half the battle in this league. This team has some clear limitations still, especially in the bullpen, but is in a great spot right now. The Phillies currently have the best record in the MLB at 34-19 and hold a 1.5-game lead in the NL East over the recently struggling New York Mets. The Phillies get a fun one over the next few days as they host the division rival Atlanta Braves for a three-game set. After starting the season1-8 the Braves have since gone 24-19, including a series victory over the Phillies back in April.