Phillies stay hot on first night without Trea Turner, blow Giants out
Final Score: Phillies 14, Giants 3
The Philadelphia Phillies found out Saturday afternoon that they’re looking at life without Trea Turner — one of the faces of the franchise — for over a month. But for at least their first night without the $300 million man, the red-hot Phillies didn’t skip a beat.
After a 70-minute rain delay, the Phillies hung nine runs on the San Francisco Giants over the first two innings of Saturday evening’s game, with six different players driving in at least a run. Giants starter Keaton Winn entered the evening with an impressive 3.18 ERA across 34 innings pitched, but ultimately lasted just 2/3 of an inning, getting charged with four hits and five earned runs.
In suboptimal weather conditions, Ranger Suárez wasn’t nearly as sharp as he had been over his first six starts of the season. Suárez allowed seven hits and three earned runs over six innings pitched. Nonetheless, he still became the first MLB pitcher to win six games this season. Suárez’s ERA went up 40 points Saturday, and yet it’s still only at 1.72.
With the victory, the Phillies improve to 23-11, winners of eight out of their last 10 games. They’ve assured at least a split of their four-game weekend series with the Giants.
Highlights
Alec Bohm entered the day hitting .457 with runners in scoring position, but didn’t even get a chance to take the bat off of his shoulders with the bases loaded and no one out in the bottom of the first inning, as he was hit on the first pitch that Winn threw to him. That forced in Kyle Schwarber.
Bohm’s roommate, Brandon Marsh, followed with a single into right field, which scored J.T. Realmuto.
Nick Castellanos then grounded into a double play, but Harper scored the third run in the process.
Before the inning was out, the Phillies would add two more runs on RBIs by Bryson Stott and Johan Rojas:
Realmuto tripled to lead off the the bottom of the second inning, and then immediately scored on a wild pitch by Mitch White.
Castellanos narrowly avoided grounding into another double play in the second inning. On his fielder’s choice, Harper scored. The Phillies put up four runs total in the bottom of the second inning, with Stott and Edmundo Sosa driving in runs.
The only major blow of the night for the Giants came in the top of the fifth inning, when Wilmer Flores hit a two-run home run off of Suárez.
Rojas hit a ball hard at the usually sure-handed Matt Chapman at third base in the bottom of the sixth inning, and it went through the five-hole of the two-time Platinum Glove Award winner, allowing both Castellanos and Stott to score.
Schwarber followed up Chapman’s error by singling into right field, plating two more runs in the forms of Sosa and Rojas.
Whit Merrifield — who entered the game at third base as a replacement for Alec Bohm, who left “as a precaution” with right hip tightness — led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a home run.
Cristopher Sánchez was available out of the bullpen for the Phillies Saturday evening, but since he wasn’t used the team now plans for him to start Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Here’s a look at what that means for Taijuan Walker and Spencer Turnbull.