They hit in a row — fifth, sixth, seventh — and then hit in a row. Max Kepler lofted a second-inning shot. Two innings later, Brandon Marsh and Harrison Bader took consecutive laps.
Call it a rotation, call it a platoon, call it exactly what it looked like in Miami on Friday night: working.
All that thunder turned Cristopher Sánchez’s job into simple math.
The lefty stacked seven innings of one-run ball, scattering six hits with five strikeouts and one walk, the kind of quiet, grown-up start that makes a four-homer night feel inevitable.
The sequence looked like this: Kepler reached Marlins swingman Valente Bellozo in the second; Marsh and Bader went back-to-back off Lake Bachar in the fourth; and Bryson Stott put the game to bed in the seventh, lining a three-run homer into the Phillies’ bullpen against George Soriano.
The sequence looked like this: Kepler reached Marlins swingman Valente Bellozo in the second; Marsh and Bader went back-to-back off Lake Bachar in the fourth; and Bryson Stott put the game to bed in the seventh, lining a three-run homer into the Phillies’ bullpen against George Soriano.
By the time the dust settled, the Phillies had 16 hits, every starter had at least one, and a 9–1 cushion that even an eighth-inning two-run homer from Brian Navarreto off Tanner Banks couldn’t dent.
Tim Mayza closed with a tidy, perfect ninth.
One more subplot with some bite: with Nick Castellanos sitting for the third time in four games, the Phillies again rolled with Marsh-Bader-Kepler against right-handed pitching, and again got exactly what they were looking for.
One more subplot with some bite: with Nick Castellanos sitting for the third time in four games, the Phillies again rolled with Marsh-Bader-Kepler against right-handed pitching, and again got exactly what they were looking for.
Meanwhile, Trea Turner did Trea Turner things (4-for-5), notching his second four-hit game against Miami this season.
The standings didn’t blink — the Mets won, so the NL East lead stays six — but the picture did. Give your three hottest outfielders the most swings, pair it with a starter on schedule, and the night tends to take care of itself.
The standings didn’t blink — the Mets won, so the NL East lead stays six — but the picture did. Give your three hottest outfielders the most swings, pair it with a starter on schedule, and the night tends to take care of itself.
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