Phillies offense crushes 5 home runs in 14-4 win over Braves, avoiding the series sweep
The Phillies offense came alive on Thursday night, crushing 5 home runs on their way to a 14-4 victory over the Braves while avoiding the series sweep.
Phillies (40-37) Beat Braves (44-33)
- Winning Pitcher: Aaron Nola (5-5, 3.13)
- Losing Pitcher: Ian Anderson (6-5, 5.31)
- Save: n/a
If you had asked me whether the Phillies were going to win this game after Didi Gregorius lost track of the number of outs in the 2nd inning, allowing a run to score for the Braves, I would have said absolutely not.
But Gregorius would redeemed himself just minutes later in the Phils half of the 2nd, driving a double off Braves starting pitcher Ian Anderson, while setting the tone for the huge 7-run inning. The Phils notched 6 hits in the frame and managed to knock Anderson out of the game after throwing just 54 pitches.
Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber both hit three-run home runs. For a struggling Castellanos it was his first home run in the entire month of June, while Schwarber’s bomb was his 12th of the month, and his 23rd of the season, good for the most in the National League.
After going 0-4 in his Phillies debut in Wednesday’s night loss, Darrick Hall hit a pair of home runs with his wife in the crowd, for his first major league hits. Hall is the first player in Phillies history to have his first two career hits be home runs.
Aaron Nola stats for this game will appear average, as he allowed four earned on seven hits over seven innings of work. But Nola appeared dominant early on, striking out eight Braves hitters and gave up most his runs when the game was already out of reach.
Nola, who is 4th in the NL in strikeouts and 2nd in innings pitched, is having his best season for the Phils since 2018 and should really be considered for the NL All-Star team later this month. If he can keep this up, the combination of Nola and Wheeler could keep the Phils in the playoff race until Harper can return in late-August.
With the win the Phillies posted a record a 19-8 in the month of June and are just 2.5 GB of the St Louis Cardinals, who just happen to come to town this weekend for a three game series at Citizens Bank Park.
Didi Gregorius forgets that there is only one out in the inning and casually steps on 2nd base giving up the potential inning ending double play.
1-0 Braves
Alec Bohm ties the game up, erasing what seemed like a horrible omen in the 1st inning.
1-1 Phils
Bryson Stott drives in another run giving the Phils the lead early on.
2-1 Phils
Matt Vierling knocks in two more runs with an RBI double in the Phils huge 7-run 2nd inning.
4-1 Phils
Nick Castellanos hits his first home run in the month of June, tagging Ian Anderson for his 7th ER and knocking him out of the game.
7-1 Phils
Kyle Schwarber hits his 12th home run in the month of June, putting this game into blowout territory.
10-1 Phils
Rhys Hoskins goes back-to-back in the Phillies 4-run 3rd inning.
11-1 Phils
Darick Hall takes Jesus Cruz deep in the 4th inning notching his first major league hit and first major league home run with one swing.
12-1 Phils
Michael Harris II absolutely crushes a baseball 424 feet to centerfield off Nola in the 5th inning.
12-3 Phils
Adam Duvall takes Aaron Nola deep in the 7th inning.
12-4 Phils
Thats two major league hits and two home runs for Darick Hall! Pretty cool, even if the second dinger came against a position player in designated hitter Mike Ford.
14-4 Phils
Up Next for the Phillies
The Phillies will get ready to host the St Louis Cardinals Friday night in the first game of a weekend series at Citizens Bank Park.
Bailey Falter (0-2, 4.50) will toe the rubber facing off against Miles Mikolas (5-5, 2.57) with the first pitch scheduled for 6:05 pm.
NBC Sports Philadelphia will have the broadcast of the game.
Mandatory Photo Credit: Philadelphia Phillies
