Phillies take rubber match against the Mets, win 8-2
The Philadelphia Phillies won their second consecutive series to start the 2021 season after beating the New York Mets 8-2 at Citizen Bank Park. They open up the season with a 5-1 record.
After a quiet start, the Phillies offense finally came alive today with Rhys Hoskins and JT Realmuto leading the way. After an offseason in which the city of Philadelphia panicked at the thought of Realmuto signing with the Mets, New York opted to sign James McCann instead. Today was a subtle reminder to the city of New York that the Best Catcher in Baseball resides in the city of Philadelphia.
Realmuto made his presence felt, walking and scoring on Alec Bohm’s three-run home run in the first inning and then hitting a three-run home run of his own to right field in the fifth inning.
Aaron Nola struggled through four innings and watched his pitch count climb to 92 pitches. Nola did however, only let up one run while allowing six hits and walking two. The Phillies bullpen came through yet again. Connor Brogdon picked up his third victory to move to 3-0 on the season. Brogdon threw 1.2 innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out two. Archie Bradley let up the only run outside of Nola, throwing 1.1 innings and allowing two hits while striking out two. Sam Coonrod and Hector Neris closed this game out throwing a combined 2 innings, allowing only one hit.
The most important takeaway from today’s game was none other than Rhys Hoskins. As Rhys goes, so goes the Philadelphia Phillies. In the 2020 season, the Phillies were 8-2 when Hoskins hit a home run and 11-4 when Hoskins had at least one RBI. The team was also 6-14 when Hoskins did not play, showing his importance to this Phillies team. In Phillies wins, Hoskins went .262/.398/.607/1.005. In Phillies losses, he sat at .224/.366/.373/.739.
Rhys started the game going 3-for-3 with a single, double, and home run. Over the first six games, one of which he came in off the bench in the seventh inning (Thanks Joe), Hoskins has 10 hits in 24 at-bats (.417) with six doubles, one home run, and four RBI. His OBP is .417., SLG is .792 and his OPS is 1.208.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but with a core lineup of Hoskins, Harper, Realmuto, and Bohm, the Philadelphia Phillies are going to be a problem for opposing teams all summer long. Speaking of Harper, who’s off to a quiet start offensively, had a very productive day at the plate for the Phillies. Harper finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
The Phillies will have a day off tomorrow before playing the Braves in Atlanta Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then the Mets in New York on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. With an 5-1 record, they have a 2.5 game lead on the Mets and Nationals in the NL East and a three game lead on the Braves.
Mandatory Credit: Getty Images
[…] will hit the road for a seven game road trip against the same teams in the Braves and Mets. The bats for the Phillies finally came alive last game as Rhys Hoskins, JT Realmtuo, and Alec Bohm all hit home runs. Hoskins specifically, is […]