Phillies take advantage of Cardinals’ miscues, finally get offense going in 9-2 rout

It started with back-to-back infield hits that should have been outs. It continued with a fly ball that either got caught in the whipping wind or lost in the lights. It featured an intentional walk of a rookie who was called up two days earlier and a pitcher who got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

And for the Phillies, it was pure catharsis.

Go ahead and argue that the Phillies lucked out in the second inning Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, that their six-run, five-hit outburst really should have been another goose egg if only the St. Louis Cardinals could catch the ball. But after the week they have had, they weren’t about to give anything back.

If anything, the Phillies needed that inning — and the stress-free 9-2 giggler that it produced, in conjunction with a stellar start from Zach Eflin — like a stand-up comedian needs laughs.

“Being able to come out here and do the things that we were able to do tonight, just put the ball in play, have fun, enjoy what we were doing, it’s a lot of fun to play,” Bryce Harper said. “Our lineup, when we’re hitting on all cylinders, is a lot of fun to watch.”

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The Phillies sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning against Cardinals starter Carlos Martínez. Andrew McCutchen and Harper delivered the big blows — a two-run single and a two-run double, respectively — and did they ever need them.

McCutchen had been hitless in 14 at-bats and Harper in eight, including a 109-mph missile that was caught on the warning track in right field in the first inning. McCutchen, in particular, is off to a rough start. He was 5-for-36 entering Friday night, and when he fought off an up-and-in pitch for the single to right field, he raised his arms in exaltation as he ran to first base.

“He’s really important to our offense in leading off and getting on base, driving in runs,” manager Joe Girardi said. “It was a good night for him. I think it was an important night for him.”

But this was bigger than a slumping leadoff man or a snakebit slugger. For three days in New York against the Mets, the Phillies couldn’t hit a beach ball. They scored a total of four runs, picked up 16 hits, and struck out 31 times.

Let this be a lesson, then, on the value of putting the ball in play. Girardi and hitting coach Joe Dillon, one of three coaches who missed the game because of COVID-19 safety protocols, have emphasized striking out less and making contact more. It’s the best way for an offense to create opportunities.

To wit: Alec Bohm had only a 23% chance, according to Statcast, to get a hit when he rolled a grounder to the left side with one out in the second inning. But Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong was unable to make a play, and the Phillies had fuel for a rally.

“That’s the game, you know?” said Harper, who critiqued his performance in New York and challenged his teammates to be better, too. “I think there’s times when we try a little too hard instead of just playing the game you know how to play, putting the ball in play, making them make that routine play as you hustle. That’s what we need to do as a team.”

After Bohm reached base, Didi Gregorius’s grounder clanked off Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter’s glove. Center fielder Dylan Carlson thought he settled under a fly ball from Jean Segura, only to see the wind take it elsewhere.

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Cardinals manager Mike Shildt took it from there. Rather than letting Martinez attack Mickey Moniak, whose only at-bats in the last two weeks have come at the Phillies’ alternate training site, Shildt called for an intentional walk to load the bases with one out. But Martinez hit Eflin with an 0-1 sinker. Eflin became the first Phillies pitcher since Gene Conley in 1960 to pick up an RBI by getting hit by a pitch.

“We took advantage,” Girardi said. “Real big advantage.”

McCutchen’s single created a four-run lead. And after Rhys Hoskins walked, Harper lined a two-strike pitch to right field for a two-run double, one of three balls that he scorched at more than 100 mph but his only hit of the game.

“I came to the Bank to hit homers, and it’s just not happening,” Harper said, smiling. “That wind’s brutal.”

In any case, it was 6-0. The rout was on.

But Eflin didn’t take his foot off the pedal. He retired 12 consecutive batters between DeJong’s two-out single in the second inning and Tommy Edman’s two-out single in the sixth and became the first Phillies starter to reach the eighth inning this season. It hardly mattered that Justin Williams ruined his shutout bid with a two-run homer in the eighth.

And Eflin was backed by the high-scoring offense that the Phillies expected to have when the season began. If this winds up being the game that finally gets the bats going, they can thank the Cardinals later.