Phillies continue to mash, reach season-best six games over .500 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
TAMPA, Fla. — It took a month, but this is the Phillies lineup that was advertised.
The Phils pounded the Rays, 7-0, on Wednesday night at Steinbrenner Field to win their fourth straight series and eighth game in their last 10.
They chased Tampa Bay’s best starter, Shane Baz, with one in the fourth inning after forcing him to throw 83 pitches, so many of them stressful. A main theme of the series has been the Phillies’ ability to grind out at-bats up and down the lineup. On Tuesday night, Drew Rasmussen needed 58 pitches to get through the second and third innings and was out by the fifth.
The Phillies haven’t been putting runners on base and leaving them there, either. They’ve scored 66 runs in those 10 games with seven-plus runs in seven of them. On Wednesday, they scored in every way — with power, by stringing hits together and even a little small ball.
Trea Turner, hitting .397 over his last 16 games, pulled a 90 mph, middle-in slider that barely moved for a solo home run in the top of the third, his second of the season. The Phillies piled on five more runs in the fourth with six of seven hitters reaching before the second out was made.
One of the biggest plays in the five-run fourth was a safety squeeze bunt laid down by Johan Rojas with one out and runners on the corners before the Phillies had scored in the inning. Baz tried to flip to the plate but was unsuccessful, letting in a run and putting two men back on base for the top of the order. Bryson Stott and Turner followed with RBI singles and Bryce Harper drove in both with a double to the gap in left-center.
Harper has been frustrated over a two-week stretch during which he’s hit .200 on the nose, but he’s shown signs of coming out of it in recent days. He homered and smoked a single on Sunday. He has seen the lowest rate of pitches inside the strike zone of any hitter in all of baseball but has, for the most part, avoided getting too antsy. One of Harper’s many positive attributes is still finding ways on base during a slump.
Rojas found various ways to contribute to Wednesday’s win. After bunting his way aboard and scoring in the fourth, he singled, stole second and scored again in the sixth. Rojas is hitting .303 in 73 plate appearances this season. The bunts haven’t been perfect but they’re getting better. With his speed and defense, it’s hard to sit him when he’s playing like this. Manager Rob Thomson said pregame Wednesday that he called Rojas and Brandon Marsh into his office after the series opener to lay out the plans for playing time over the next nine days as the Phillies face a slew of right-handed starting pitchers.
Cristopher Sanchez had far from his best control yet made it work over six scoreless innings against the Rays’ weak offense. He walked three but allowed just one hit, a single to the third batter of the game. At one point in the sixth inning, Sanchez had thrown 39 strikes and 36 balls, but he made pitches when they counted. Sanchez is 4-1 with a 2.89 ERA through seven starts. He’s allowed one run in 18 career innings against the Rays, the team that traded him to the Phillies in November 2019 for Curtis Mead, who started at first base Wednesday and went 0-for-4.
Taijuan Walker pitched the final three innings for the first save of his career in his first bullpen appearance of 2025. His outing began with five straight strikeouts and he whiffed seven total. This was the perfect sort of confidence-building outing as Walker transitions to the ‘pen with Ranger Suarez healthy.
The Phils removed J.T. Realmuto in the bottom of the seventh, up seven, with a left foot contusion after he fouled a pitch off it in the top half. He was walking aroud fine after the game, Thomson said, and the Phillies did not send him for X-rays. They’ll check on him early tomorrow afternoon.
The Phillies are a season-best 21-15. They’re 8-3-1 in 12 series, the best series record of any National League team. Only the Mariners (9-2-1) have won more.
