Jake Arrieta was on the mound for the Phillies against the Braves. He allowed three hits and one walk in six scoreless innings. He struck out six. This marked the first start of six or more scoreless innings since 2018 for Arrieta. He struck out five of seven Atlanta batters at one point, including two swings and misses on sliders and one swing and miss on a changeup.

Bryce Harper on Arrieta: 

“I thought he threw the crap out of it,” Bryce Harper said. “I mean, his backdoor sinker. I haven’t seen 93 from him in a couple years. To be able to see him really spotting up, if he’s throwing that backdoor sinker and he’s throwing off that with the cutter, he’s very tough. I think when he was really, really good, especially in 2015, he was doing that.

Harper gave his pitcher some help during the 5th inning with a stellar diving catch. Harper covered 56 feet in only 3.7 seconds.

brb, watching this on loop. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/IZuCAxfi0s

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 8, 2020

Arrieta then had runners on first and second with one out in the sixth, when Dansby Swanson lined out to Didi Gregorious. Gregorius quickly fired a throw to Scott Kingery at second base to turn a rally-killing double play.

At the plate, we got more of the same. JT Realmuto smashed his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to left field in the fourth inning to hand the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Since the Phillies resumed play on Monday, J.T. Realmuto is 7-for-12 with three home runs, six RBIs and six runs. He’s slashing .583/.667/1.333 with a 2.000 OPS. If Klentak isn’t going to pay the man, someone else surely will.

Jay Bruce followed three batters later with a three-run home run to right-center field to make it 4-0.

Things are happening so fast we can’t keep up!

It’s 4-0 now, btw. #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/piTg2LDBg8

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 8, 2020

The DH position has been clutch for the Phillies with Phil Gosselin and Jay Bruce. The duo are hitting a combined .429/.529/1.071 with 4-HRs and 9 extra base hits. The Phillies need the help too since we’re basically getting nothing from Andrew McCutchen, Rhys Hoskins and Scott Kingery so far this season. Rhys Hoskins is sitting at 19 consecutive games without a home run, a new career-high. He’s managed just three RBIs during this drought. YIKES.

The Phillies are back tomorrow with a double-header against the Braves. In one of those games, we will see the Phillies top pitching prospect, Spencer Howard. 

OTHER NOTES:

I apologies for anyone who bet the over in this game (Process to Progress Host Kevin McCormick). I don’t think anyone expected that outing from Jake Arrieta.

Air Horns Still Going Strong in Ashburn Alley. I absolutely love it.

Something to consider: If Rhys Hoskins continues to struggle, the Phillies should unfortunately look at bringing up Alec Bohm to play 3rd base. Jean Segura could either move to 2nd Base for a struggling Kingery or 1st Base if needed for Hoskins.

Ring that bell, baby.