Kyle Schwarber, Phillies offense come to life in series-clinching win against Royals
Final Score: Phillies 8, Royals 4
Seven days ago, the Phillies lost an extra-innings game in Pittsburgh, resulting in a frustrating series loss to the Pirates. It was their third series loss since returning from the All-Star Break. And with the offense struggling, the Phillies were trending in the wrong direction for a team in the middle of a playoff hunt.
However, coming off that series loss to the Pirates, Philadelphia has now won five of their last seven games, along with back-to-back series wins, after defeating the Royals this afternoon.
One of the issues with the Phillies offense of late has been their star players not performing up to their potentials. Another has been their lack of home run power. Neither of which were the case today.
The combination of Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and Trea Turner went 7-for-15 with five RBIs and five runs scored. Meanwhile, seven of the club’s eight runs scored via the long ball.
And with Taijuan Walker’s early struggles, it was good to see the lineup pick up their starting pitcher.
Walker gave up three runs on five hits in the top of the first inning on 19 pitches. The Royals dinked-and-dunked their way to their three runs with three RBI singles in the inning.
Walker gave up another run, this one on a home run by MJ Melendez, in the second, but settled down after that — something he did in his last start against the Marlins.
Altogether, the right-hander allowed just one more hit after finishing the second inning and concluded his day with a rather serviceable seven innings pitched. Walker also picked up his Major League-leading 13th win of the season.
With the Phillies down 3-0 entering the bottom of the first, their mentality was likely to chip-away at the visiting club’s lead. But with a pair of runners on and two outs, Bryson Stott stepped up to the plate and got all three runs back on one swing:
And an inning later, with Rob Thomson’s squad down by one, Schwarber didn’t feel like chipping-away either as he launched his 28th homer of the season:
As Walker cooled off Kansas City’s offense, Castellanos kept Philadelphia’s offense hot as he notched his 1,400th career hit by way of a two-run home run — his second of the series — to add on a pair of insurance runs for the home team:
Philadelphia added another insurance run in the eighth on a sac-fly to center field by Harper on a ball that nearly went out of the yard.
All in all, the Phillies offense put 12 hits on the board on their way to scoring eight times. And even though they didn’t walk at all, they struck out just six times.
What a difference a week can make. Seven days ago the Phillies were trending in the wrong direction. But now, with the offense coming to life, they look like a team trending upwards as they continue to hold on to the second NL Wild Card spot.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Monday, August 7 vs. Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park
- 6:40 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
- Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680
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