The Philadelphia Phillies despatched a thunderous message to the remainder of the Nationwide League on Tuesday evening, erupting for a franchise-record eight residence runs in an 11-1 demolition of the Miami Marlins at Residents Financial institution Park. The explosion not solely snapped Miami’s seven-game win streak but additionally reminded everybody why Philly owns the second-best document in baseball; trailing solely the NL Central-leading Brewers because the postseason looms.
Simply 24 hours earlier, the Marlins had stolen a dramatic 6-5 win in 11 innings, erasing a gem from Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez, who had tossed seven scoreless frames with six strikeouts. This time round, Philadelphia made positive there was no such heartbreak.
The evening started quietly as each groups struggled to money in on early alternatives, with the Phillies leaving three runners stranded within the first two innings. However every little thing modified within the fourth, when the bats awoke and by no means stopped.
Kyle Schwarber, the Nationwide League’s residence run chief, opened the fireworks within the third along with his fifty fifth blast of the yr, a towering shot to lifeless heart that tied the sport 1-1 and introduced him inside three of Ryan Howard’s single-season franchise document. The slugging continued from there. Edmundo Sosa crushed a solo homer to deep heart within the fourth, and Bryson Stott adopted with a blast to right-center in the identical inning, placing Philadelphia firmly in management.
Sosa wasn’t performed. On the primary pitch of the sixth inning, he launched his second homer of the evening, this one to right-center, extending the lead even additional. Then Schwarber returned to the plate and smashed No. 56 within the seventh, shifting simply two shy of Howard’s mark. Alec Bohm adopted Schwarber instantly with a solo shot to almost the identical spot, and the floodgates opened.
Nick Castellanos reached with a single earlier than Otto Kemp crushed a two-run homer, the Phillies’ third blast of the inning. And simply when it appeared the onslaught would possibly lastly sluggish, Sosa stepped again in and delivered his third homer of the evening, capping a record-setting energy surge that rewrote the Phillies’ historical past books.
The eight-homer efficiency broke a franchise document Philadelphia had set lower than a month in the past on August 28. Sosa’s three-homer recreation was the centerpiece of the rout, however the energy was contagious throughout the lineup because the Phillies flexed their muscle in emphatic trend.
For Schwarber, the evening introduced him inside putting distance of Howard’s single-season document of 58, a mark that has stood since 2006. With simply days left within the common season, the slugger has an actual shot at rewriting that chapter of Phillies historical past as nicely.
Philadelphia’s assertion win got here after that they had already clinched the NL East final week when the Dodgers beat San Francisco, eliminating the Giants from postseason competition. Now, with the playoffs on the horizon, the Phillies are locked in and swinging for October glory and if Tuesday evening is any indication, they may simply be essentially the most harmful offense in baseball.
