Phillies blow out Blue Jays, even without their A-lineup, for 7th straight win

They were without their top three right-handed hitters, they were facing the pitcher with the lowest ERA in all of baseball, and it still didn’t matter for the Phillies on Tuesday night.

They’re just wiping teams out.

The Phils won again, 10-1, for their seventh in a row and 11th of 12.

They continue to seize control early in games. Bryce Harper scored the first run after singling in the bottom of the first and racing around the bases on Nick Castellanos’ double. Kody Clemens, using Harper’s bat, hit a two-run blast in the second inning to extend the lead.

“We just have too many good guys,” starting pitcher Cristopher Sanchez said. “The bench, everybody’s good. We have two lineups on our team.”

The Phillies have outscored their opponents 45-10 in the first two innings of their last 20 games.

They weren’t done there though against Jose Berrios, who entered with a 1.44 ERA. The Phillies scored five more times in the bottom of the fourth on a Clemens RBI triple and Harper grand slam. Those were the only two hits in the inning as Berrios plunked Edmundo Sosa and Kyle Schwarber and walked Garrett Stubbs.

Philadelphia Phillies

“We knew that going in, he’s having a great year,” Harper said. “That slider’s his pitch. We just tried to get him out over (the plate) and tried to stay on stuff that wasn’t coming in on us or going away from us. Thought we had a really good plan.”

Over his last 18 games, Harper has hit .344/.481/.656 with six home runs, 21 RBI, 18 walks and 16 strikeouts. The Phillies are 17-1 in those games.

Harper and Clemens drove in eight of the 10 runs. Clemens was called up when Trea Turner went on the injured list with a hamstring strain. He started at third base for Alec Bohm, who had the night off after his 18-game hitting streak was snapped Monday.

“He’s a stud,” Harper said of Clemens. “Anytime he gets up here, he’s just another ballplayer coming up and playing the game. It’s fun to watch. He has professional at-bats. For him to be able to come up, go down, come up again and do what he does, same mindset.

“He had a great spring, probably could have made any team out of camp. Just got the short end of the stick, then comes up and does what he did in Cincinnati, then tonight. Just impressive. He came from a professional family so I think that helps too.”

Sanchez bounced back after two straight shaky starts, holding the Blue Jays to one run over seven innings with five strikeouts and 12 outs on the ground. He threw 89 pitches over his seven innings and lowered his ERA to 3.22.

The Phillies had a plan in place after Sanchez to use Spencer Turnbull, who pitched two scoreless innings in his first bullpen appearance since his rookie year in 2018.

“Sanchy was phenomenal and efficient,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Really, going into the game, we were kind of thinking five and then go to Bull, but he was just so efficient, so good that we kept extending him.”

Turnbull’s usage out of the bullpen will depend on how long he goes in these relief appearances, Thomson said. He won’t pitch in back-to-back games because he’s never done it. Thomson said Tuesday that he thinks Turnbull will require one day off when pitching one inning, two days off when pitching two innings and a full four days between appearances if he piggybacks a starter and goes three or more innings.

The Phillies and Blue Jays end their two-game series Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. Aaron Nola (4-1, 3.32) is opposed by veteran right-hander Chris Bassitt (2-5, 5.45). A win would give the Phils their fifth sweep in the last seven series.

Just six of the Phillies’ first 38 games are against NL East teams but they have 10 in a row after Thursday’s off day, beginning with three at Marlins Park.