Arrieta emerges as Phillies blank Buccos
After some cold nights in Atlanta, the Phillies bats broke out back at home on Thursday. They also didn’t need too, because Jake Arrieta was simply awesome.
The new Phillie pitched seven brilliant, one-hit frames, striking out 10 and reminding us of Cliff Lee. His pitches moved, from a low-90s cutter that seemed absolutely unhittable to a curveball that was just unfair. He was pulled before reaching 100 pitches, which was fine because his team was already up 7-0. Let’s save Arrieta for September.
The Phils got most of those runs early. In the second Rhys Hoskins kicked off the scoring with a solo jack, his third. Then the Phils loaded the bases, and when it seemed like a big waste, Cesar Hernandez came through with a single up the middle. Two runs scored, of course, but J.P. Crawford, who is really starting to get comfortable, galloped around the bases and got Dusty Wathan’s green light as he approached third. He scored as well, pulling off the rare three-run single. Beautiful baseball.
Crawford would add an RBI later, and Odubel Herrera also added two RBI hits.
The Phillies have speed, are aggressive, hit some big flys and make fun defensive plays, like Scott Kingery’s backhand and dart in the second. He looked like Mike Schmidt on that play, fitting because the boys were wearing their throwback powder blues. They’re really becoming a fun team to watch.
