The Phillies followed up one of the most deflating losses of the season Friday night with two stellar wins to take home a much needed series victory over the Washington Nationals. Sunday’s series finale saw the Phillies absolutely demolish the Nats, with Kyle Schwarber and Drew Ellis both going yard twice.
J.T. Realmuto got the Phils on the board early with his second homer in as many days, a solo shot in the second inning. Stone Garrett would tie things up for the Nats with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth. Drew Ellis hit his first home run as a Phillie the following inning, and the Phils never looked back.
Kyle Schwarber welcomed the month of June by popping a three-run shot in the top of the sixth to make it 5-1 Phillies. Brandon Marsh tacked on another one with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Ellis followed that up with a two-run shot to continue his banner day. Schwarber capped off the barrage with an opposite-field two-run blast in the ninth to give the Phils an 11-1 advantage.
On the mound Ranger Suárez had by far his best start of the year thus far, scattering eight hits and one walk across 7.0 strong innings, surrendering one run and punching out three. Jeff Hoffman continued his brilliance in a Phillies uniform with a one-two-three eighth inning, fanning two en route to lowering his season ERA to a miniscule 0.77. Unfortunately, Connor Brogdon’s struggles continued as he yielded a mandible meaningless two-run homer to Ildemaro Vargas in the ninth.
This weekend has been quite emblematic of the Phillies’ bipolar start to the season, as the same team that dropped to the division basement on Friday looked absolutely untouchable on Saturday and Sunday. It was nice to see a solid all around performance in the series finale, with role players like Drew Ellis and Kody Clemens contributing just as much as mainstays Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos.
The Phillies have another seemingly manageable opponent coming up to start their home stand, as Aaron Nola is set to face off against Joey Wentz in Monday’s series opener against the Tigers.
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