The Philadelphia Phillies earned a much needed series win yesterday following an 8-4 win against the Kansas City Royals.

Taijuan Walker was on the mound for the Phillies and was roughed up early. Walker allowed a pair of RBI singles and another run to score on a sac fly by Drew Waters, which gave the Royals an early 3-0 lead. 

On the day, Walker managed to battle through seven innings of work, allowing seven hits, four earned runs, and a walk while striking out two. The result was eventually another win for Walker, who now leads all National League pitchers with 13 wins on the season. 

After falling behind 3-0 in the top of the first, Bryson Stott stepped up to the plate and crushed an opposite field, game-tying 3-run home run to lift up Walker and get the Phillies back into the game.

Bryson Stott Game-Tying 3-Run Home Run

Heat Check: Bryson Stott is batting .302 with a .783 OPS on the season. He has 10 home runs, 43 RBI, and 20 stolen bases on the year. Over his last 30 games, he’s slashing .333/.385/.514 with three home runs, 13 RBI, and seven stolen bases. 

Read More: Bryson Stott yet again, accused of putting ranch dressing on his ice cream >>

Kyle Schwarber then stepped up to the plate in the bottom half of the second inning with Garrett Stubbs on first and snapped an 0-19 skid with a two-run home run as the Phillies regained the lead. 

Castellanos, who had a miserable month of July, has definitely found his groove in August. He’s now batting .280 with seven hits, three home runs, and 7 RBI over 6 games this month. 

Bryce Harper added another insurance run on a sac fly in the bottom of the seventh inning as Gregory Soto and Jeff Hoffman pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Walker to close out the game.

Phillies Hunt for Red October

Giants lose 2 straight. Reds lose 6 straight. Marlins lose 4 straight. D-Backs lose 6 straight. Phillies move into a tie for first place in the NL Wild Card standings.

Note: The Phillies got swept by the Giants earlier this year, so San Francisco technically owns the tiebreaker for the top NL Wild Card spot, but after a nice weekend series win, we’ll celebrate anyways.

The Phillies will now host the Washington Nations for four games at Citizens Bank Park this week. Ranger Suarez (2-5, 4.01 ERA) will face Nationals’ pitcher Trevor Williams (5-6, 4.72 ERA) tonight at 6:40PM. 

Join The Chase