Phillies score seven runs in the fifth, offense keeps rolling in 9-1 demolition of the Twins
The Phillies offense has looked different over the last few weeks and for the most part, you can attribute that with the fact that the NL batter leading Luis Arraez is now in the center of the lineup.
If you’re not completely sold on that, I get it. The Phillies have a lot more to prove to get back in the trust tree, I’m just reading the results and they are expected against a very soft August schedule.
Either way, there’s no better example than Saturday night’s 9-1 demolition of the Twins if you want to see how the lineup has quickly changed with the arrival of Arraez.
Before August, the Phillies were a walking contradiction.
Eighth in the majors in homers but DEAD LAST in on-base percentage at .303, with the third-worst walk rate and second-highest chase rate in the league. The power was there but as we all know, the traffic wasn’t. Feast-or-famine baseball, the exact approach that’s died a painful October death before.
Since August 1, the Phillies own the second-lowest strikeout rate in baseball at 15.9 percent, down from an ugly 23.7 percent. Their .366 on-base percentage LEADS the majors. Their walk rate leads MLB at 13.4 percent.
The Phillies 5th Inning..
Saturday’s big frame was exactly what this team has been preaching. After a Realmuto sac fly in the second, the Phillies dropped seven on Connor Prielipp in the fifth.
With one on and two out, they ripped off SIX straight baserunners. Turner walked. Harper walked. Arraez walked. Bohm singled in a run on his way to a career-high five-hit day. Sosa singled in another. Then Stott cleared the bases with a three-run bomb.
Again, this is a veteran ball club so preaching on how they are finally playing smart baseball is a whole different issue. The point right now is that regardless of how they got here, the Phillies are grinding out at-bats and stacking baserunners. They are working walks and letting the power finish it which is a stark difference from the one magic swing to save a game routine we’ve all come far too accustomed with.
The Phillies strung together SIX straight baserunners. Turner walked. Harper walked. Arraez walked. Bohm singled in a run on his way to a career-high five-hit day. Sosa added an RBI single and then Bryson Stott cleared the bases with a three-run bomb.
Bryson Stott – Heat Check
Bryce Harper
Nobody’s benefited more than Bryce Harper, who ran his on-base streak to 18 games with Arraez protecting him in the cleanup spot.
The numbers are absurd.
Before the trade, Harper had a 34.6 percent chase rate, one of the highest of his career. Since the deal, he’s drawn a league-leading 18 walks against just nine hits, with a 35.9 percent walk rate that leads baseball by nearly 13 points.
He asked for protection and to chase less all offseason. He’s gotten both. That’s the Arraez effect reaching way beyond his own bat.
Jesus Luzardo keeps rolling. One run over 6 2/3, nine punchouts, ERA down to 3.23. Strip out his six clunker starts and almost nobody in the sport has been better. Since June 10, he owns an NL-best 1.98 ERA with a league-leading 105 strikeouts and a .183 opponents’ average that’s fourth-lowest in baseball.
He had traffic but never let the game speed up, and he gave this cooked bullpen real length. And he’s the No. 3 starter. In a short series, Sanchez, Wheeler, and Luzardo is a legit front three, and paired with an offense that doesn’t need the long ball to score, that’s a scarier version of this team.
Jesus Luzardo – Ring It
Stotty Too Hotty
Bryson Stott is hitting .330 with 16 RBI over his last 30 games. He’s hitting .354 over his last 15 games and .370 over his last 7 games. Dude is on fire and has quietly become one of the best players in all of baseball.
He leads the club in fWAR since June 4 at 2.7, tied for second among ALL MLB players over that span behind only Pete Crow-Armstrong.
His three-run shot Saturday came off a lefty, and he now leads the team hitting .318 against lefties, nearly 100 points higher than each of the last two seasons. It came with runners in scoring position too, where he’s hitting .344, 12th-best in baseball. His OPS has climbed from .576 in April to .763.
Andrew Painter will take the bump today in Minnesota looking to complete the sweep of the Twins. First pitch is set for 2:10 PM EDT.
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