3 Numbers to Remember: Phillies bounce back at home after rough roadtrip

Trea Turner currently has a 10-game hitting streak. (Cheryl Pursell)

The Phillies third homestand of the 2023 season consisted of five games against two American League East teams. They welcomed the Boston Red Sox to Citizens Bank Park for a three-game weekend series last Friday night and then began a quick two-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday evening.

The homestand did not get off to a good start as Philadelphia lost their series against the Red Sox. In the first two games of the series, poor outings by their starters, along with low-scoring performances from their offense, resulted in back-to-back losses and a six-game losing streak overall. The club put an end to their losing ways in the series finale against Boston, though, thanks to a strong showing from Taijuan Walker and a six-run performance by the offense.

After an off day on Monday, Rob Thomson’s squad resumed play on Tuesday against Toronto. Behind a solid outing from Aaron Nola, the offense put together an eight-run performance en route to a victory over the Blue Jays. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, after not scoring a run until the ninth inning, the Phillies walked things off in the bottom of the 10th for a 2-1 win, which gave them their third straight win and a 3-2 record on the homestand.

Here are three numbers to remember from the Phillies most recent five-game stretch at Citizens Bank Park:

4.6 — Phillies Runs Per Game

Consistently scoring runs has been an issue for the Phillies through the club’s first 37 games of 2023. They have scored five or more runs in back-to-back games just twice so far — on April 16 and 18 and then again this past Sunday and Tuesday.

Before their game against the Red Sox on Friday night, the Phillies scored 137 runs in their first 32 games — good for an average of 4.28 runs per game, which was 15th in baseball. So by averaging 4.6 runs per game during their five-game homestand, they outperformed their season average.

Some of their better hitters against the Red Sox and Blue Jays were Nick Castellanos, J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner. Castellanos had a .700 slugging percentage, while Realmuto had a .333 batting average and delivered a clutch, game-tying RBI double in the ninth inning of the club’s 2-1 win on Wednesday.

As for Harper and Turner, the two-time NL MVP hit his first home run of the season on Saturday, scored six runs during the homestand and delivered the walk-off “hit” in Wednesday’s contest, while Turner picked up a hit in all five games — extending his hitting streak to 10 games.

In total, those four players scored 14 of the Phillies 23 runs against Boston and Toronto.

Through their first 37 games, the Phillies are averaging 4.32 runs per game — 19th in the majors.

1.100 — Nick Castellanos’ OPS During Homestand

Castellanos did not perform how anyone thought he would in his first season with the Phillies. He slashed .263/.305/.389 with 27 doubles and just 13 home runs. The now 31-year-old was chasing pitches well outside of the strike zone regularly and wasn’t doing as much damage against fastballs — something he’d done throughout his career before arriving in Philadelphia.

Now, six weeks into the 2023 campaign, the veteran right fielder looks a lot more like his old self. He has a .322/.370/.523 slash line with 14 doubles and five home runs in the club’s first 37 games. Castellanos isn’t chasing as many pitches outside of the zone as he did a year ago. He’s also back to mashing fastballs, as he has a .385 batting average and .523 slugging percentage against those types of pitches so far this season. Last year, those numbers were .286 and .441.

The one-time All-Star continued his strong offensive production against the Red Sox over the weekend and then against the Blue Jays on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In total, Castellanos made 20 trips to the plate between the five games and slashed .400/.400/.700 with three doubles and one home run. He also drove in, and scored, four runs.

The right-handed hitter’s best game came on Tuesday night where he went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and ended up a triple shy of the cycle.

28 — Innings Pitched By Phillies

At the start of the season, Phillies starters were not able to go deep into games and it put a strain on the bullpen. Their first starter to pitch in the seventh inning or later was Bailey Falter on April 18 against the Chicago White Sox — the club’s 18th game of the year.

As the season has progressed, Philadelphia has been able to get more length from their starters — for the most part. As noted above, the first two games against Boston were losses where the Phillies starting pitchers — Zack Wheeler and Falter — did not put together their best outings. In terms of innings pitched, Wheeler tossed 5 1/3 innings and the left-handed Falter only got through 3 2/3 innings before being pulled.

While those two games were not great, the final three outings by Philadelphia starters were much better — in terms of run prevention and length.

Walker pitched six innings on Sunday and allowed one run. Nola pitched six innings of two-run ball on Tuesday. And on Wednesday, Wheeler redeemed himself and pitched seven innings while allowing just one run. That’s 19 innings and four runs allowed over the final three games of the homestand by Phillies starters.

An 18-19 start is not what many envisioned for the Phillies this year and inconsistent starting pitching has been a factor in the team’s sub .500 record a month-and-a-half into the season. But with strong performances in their last three games, and Ranger Suárez’s return from injury scheduled to take place on Saturday night in Colorado, maybe they can build some momentum and get things rolling on their upcoming six-game West Coast roadtrip against the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants.