Phillies beginning to click as they come home to face NL’s worst team originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
CHICAGO — It looked early like Wednesday’s series finale between the Phillies and White Sox would be a slugfest. Trea Turner homered in the top of the first, Andrew Vaughn hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning and Brandon Marsh tied things in the second with a solo shot.
Then JT Realmuto caught Oscar Colas attempting to steal to end the second inning and Taijuan Walker mostly cruised from there, retiring the side in order in three of the next four innings with a double-play ball in the other.
Walker pounded the zone against a free-swinging White Sox lineup and needed just 16 pitches total to get through the fifth and sixth innings of a 5-2 Phillies win.
“The dude threw like 80 strikes and five balls today,” Marsh said. “He did his thing right there and it was super fun to play behind him. Glad we got him some runs, too.
“We got off a little slow and everyone’s starting to find their groove, settling in pretty good. We’ve just got to keep this momentum.”
The Phils won the series against the White Sox and went 4-3 on their road trip through Cincinnati and Chicago. They came home 8-11 to take on a terrible Rockies team that has lost eight in a row and was plastered twice in the last three days by the lowly Pirates.
It’s an opportunity to get back to .500 and for the bats to warm up against perhaps the worst pitching staff in Major League Baseball.
Several Phillies have already started that process. Trea Turner came a triple shy of the cycle Wednesday. Realmuto is 8 for 19 over his last five games with three doubles and a homer. Marsh is slugging .737, third-best in the majors behind Matt Chapman and Patrick Wisdom.
“The offense is clicking and the pitchers are starting to get it going, six-plus innings now,” Walker said.
The Phillies’ rotation entered the day ranked 22nd in MLB with 5.0 innings per start, although Walker and Nola went six innings in their starts on the trip while Bailey Falter went seven, a season-high for the team.
The value of one of their starters going six-plus innings is that it enables Rob Thomson to deploy his quartet of late-inning relievers — Jose Alvarado, Seranthony Dominguez, Craig Kimbrel and Gregory Soto — however he likes.
Those four combined for four perfect innings with two strikeouts apiece in the first game of the series. On Wednesday, Soto quickly put out a two-on, one-out fire, Kimbrel pitched a scoreless eighth and Alvarado was 1-2-3 in the ninth.
“They’re so good,” Walker said. “Soto’s so nasty, Alvarado, we have a really good bullpen. As us starters keep going deeper into games, they’ll have more rest and they’ll be able to come in when they need to come in instead of coming in early in the games.”
Walker has authored two quality starts in a row. On Wednesday, he eschewed his typical pattern and threw more two-seam fastballs than splitters. He saw the White Sox hitters struggle against Zack Wheeler’s sinker Tuesday and the game plan became clear.
“I watched Wheeler pitch and it seemed like the two-seam was working really well to the righties, getting in on them,” he said. “They were chasing them in. I just kept the same game plan to see if they’d make an adjustment and they never did. The backdoor two-seam was good and I threw my splitters when I needed to.
“Especially with a team like this, they’re aggressive, they like to swing early, so we stayed in the zone for the most part.”
Walker walked 10 batters in 15 innings in his first three starts. He walked two on Wednesday, although one of them was the final hitter he faced. Soto came on with the tying run at the plate, but a flyout and a strikeout later, the threat was over.
Soto has not allowed a hit or earned run in seven straight appearances. Kimbrel hasn’t been scored upon in five straight. Alvarado is … well he’s Jose Alvarado, the most overpowering reliever in the majors right now.
“The last two days, they’ve been dynamite,” Thomson said. “Soto comes in today, first and second, one out and just shuts ’em right down. Kimbrel gives up the infield hit but other than that, he was fantastic. And Alvarado has just been lights out all year.
“We won the road trip and get to go home for some home cookin’ and our fans, look for some energy and look to win another series.”