The Phillies are making opposing pitchers and managers pay for everything right now.
Leading by two runs for the Phils with no one out in the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday night, the Angels elected to intentionally walk Bryce Harper with a man on second. Harper dismissed a recent out with an OPS of over 1,200 in August and started the game with a 115.7 mph home run and a double, so even though he put the run-tying on base, it wasn’t entirely questionable.
Alec Baum spoiled Phil Nevin’s plan two plays later with a go-ahead three-run home run to left center.
“I just told him it was a big situation,” Harper said. “It’s just a really good moment for him.”
And the Phillies’ rally didn’t stop there, winning 12-7. JT Realmuto followed with a double and scored on a safety pressure by Johan Rojas. Two outs later, Trea Turner hit a simple chopper down the third base line to Mike Moustakas’ left that traveled all the way to the line for a triple.
They added three more in the seventh when Bum doubled, Realmuto singled and scored on a homer on Bryson Stott. Turner racked up a dozen kicks with a single shot in the eighth minute.
“It’s funny,” Harper said, “I was driving in my car today and listening to WIP as I often do during 2pm.” “A guy named Chuck called, and he calls a lot and he’s fun. He was talking about our team and he was talking about me. I walked into the practice room and I said to myself, ‘I’m going to dig deep for Chuck.’ This guy turned me on, man.
Shout out to Chuck.
The Phillies receive production from every section of the lineup and won their fifth straight to improve to a season-best 16 at . 500 at 74-58. They’re on a 91-win pace, started the night four games before their second wild card and have played 20 of their last 30 games against .500 teams or worse.
Harper was the MVP of the month for August, hitting .366/.455/.774 with nine doubles, three triples, nine homers, 22 RBIs and 22 runs scored in 25 games.
Kyle Schwarber also homered for the 11th time in the last calendar month, a period during which he racked up 34 walks and 36 strikeouts.
Turner hit . 364 with 17 extra base hits in his last 22 games.
Bohm hits 15 home runs and 82 RBI on the season. It paces 18 and 101.
“Anytime you can have a month like this, it’s huge. Being able to keep going and maintaining that is more important,” Harper said. “We had a great month. We’ve got a lot of baseball games to play and we’ll see a lot of good teams coming forward.”
Michael Lorenzen didn’t pitch well for his third straight start, allowing four runs (three earned) over six innings. He gave up a forehand in all six innings – two homers, two doubles and two singles. The Phillies have scored 91 points in their last 12 games, an average of 7.6 per night, which can hide a lot.
“It’s nice to be able to give up four goals and then smile after the game because we won,” said Lorenzen. “That’s what this offense brings. It takes the pressure off the starting pitcher a bit. I’ll go to sleep tonight feeling good about myself instead of kicking myself, tossing and turning all night, that’s for offense.
They are looking to keep it going on Wednesday at 1:05pm when Christopher Sanchez (2-3, 3.33) will take on Red Detmers (3-10, 5.03).