It was another night of Phillies baseball where the offense just wouldn’t come easy and the lineup would rely on a clutch late inning rally to beat the Blue Jays 5-1. Down a run in the top of the seventh inning, the Phillies went on a two-out rally to score five runs. The biggest hit of the night, coming from none other than Rhys Hoskins, who roped a bases clearing double to left centerfield to give the Phillies a 4-1 lead.

The Phillies have scored 20 runs in the seventh inning or later in seven games on this road trip. 12 of the 20 runs have come in the seventh inning or later in the last four games. They improved to 4-3 on the road trip and have won all three series openers, starting in Atlanta, and ending agains the Blue Jays.

On the mound, Vincent Velasquez pitched another beautiful game for the Phillies, throwing 5.2 innings, allowing three hits, one earned run, and three walks while striking out seven. Velasquez’s only run allowed came from a solo home run by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the sixth inning.

It’s the first time over Vinny Velasquez’s rollercoaster career that he has gone three straight starts with at least five innings and one run allowed or fewer. Velasquez spoke after the game, saying that he was so locked in, that he even forget to take his earrings out before the game.

The seventh inning was the highlight of the night. As the Sixers were wrapping up the one seed, the Phillies had a runner on first base with two outs. The Blue Jays relievers just couldn’t find the strike zone and Trent Thornton walked Jean Segura. Tim Mayza entered the game and promptly walked Bryce Harper, who reached base in all five plate appearances, to load the bases. Realmuto, who struggled from the plate earlier in the game, worked a game-tying walk after falling behind in the count 0-2.

That brought Rhys Hoskins to the plate, who doubled to the gap in left-center to score three. Alec Bohm, who has been struggling as of late, roped a double off the wall in right field to score Hoskins and just like that, the Phillies took a commanding 5-1 lead into the eighth inning.

Jose Alvarado, who loves to put men on base, walked both Bichette and Guerrero to put two men on with one out. He got out of the jam with a line-drive double play to Jean Segura. Alvarado has put a total of 23 men on base in 12 2/3 innings of work but still has a 2.84 ERA. Credit to him for always making things interesting.

The Phillies have consistently found a way to keep games close until the later innings where they make their move. They move to 21-18 on the season, a half-game back from the NL East-leading New York Mets.

Aaron Nola will be on the mound tonight for game two against the Blue Jays.

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