Phillies’ Syndergaard beats Reds for the second time in a week, 4-1

After a 4-hour, 26-minute marathon against the New York Mets on Sunday, which the Phillies lost in soul-crushing manner in the ninth inning, they needed an unexciting game. And they got one on Monday night, in a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies’ bullpen was thin because interim manager Rob Thomson used five of his regular relievers on Sunday, but starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard did exactly what he needed to. He was economical with his pitches, allowing him to go seven innings against the Reds. Thomson only needed to use two relievers — Andrew Bellatti and Sam Coonrod — who collectively threw 29 pitches.

It was Syndergaard’s best start thus far as a Phillie. He allowed only one run on three hits and two walks, with one strikeout over those seven innings, relying primarily on his sinker and his slider as he has in his previous starts since being acquired from the Los Angeles Angels at the trade deadline.

“Soft contact,” said Thomson, when he was asked what stood out to him about Syndergaard’s performance. “I know he didn’t get many swings-and-misses tonight, but nine ground balls and a lot of soft fly balls, and that’s what he’s been doing. So that’s been great. He’s been giving us length, and we really needed it tonight, obviously because of our bullpen situation.”

Said Syndergaard: “I really think I felt as good as I felt my last start against the Reds [a 4-3 win a week earlier in Cincinnati]. I felt like the stuff wasn’t as good, but I was able to execute. I knew what the moment called for as far as going as deep as I can, and trying to give the bullpen some rest.

“It makes it really easy to pitch when the offense is going out there and putting up runs. It seemed like Bohmer had four hits tonight [three, actually], J.T. [Realmuto], Nicky [Castellanos], Bryson [Stott]. It’s awesome to be a part of.”

The Phillies are now 4-0 when Syndergaard starts, and are 67-55 on the season. They have three more games against the Reds to try to make up ground in their playoff push.

“We’re just right back on track,” Castellanos said. “These are games that we’re supposed to win. And we’ve done a really good job all year of winning the games we’re supposed to win, because all of those games add up.”

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Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott put the Phillies on the board early. In the second inning, Castellanos crushed a 436-foot home to center field to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. In the next at-bat, Stott hit a home run of his own — a 399-foot bomb to right field to make it 2-0.

Castellanos did more damage against his former team from there. In the third inning, with J.T. Realmuto on first base, he scorched an RBI double to the right-field corner. Instead of trying to throw out Castellanos at second base, Reds right fielder Jake Fraley tried throwing Realmuto out at third. It did not go well. The ball bounced multiple times before it reached the bag, and Realmuto sailed home with plenty of time (for his 500th career run). Castellanos now has a 12-game hitting streak.

“Castellanos, great day,” Thomson said. “That was a long home run. And then, a big double down the line. And by the way — great send by [third base coach] Dusty Wathan, with J.T. Seeing the ball coming into second base, he just kept him going.”

Alec Bohm has been hot at the plate lately — he’s hitting .333/.333/.600 over his last seven games — and that carried into Monday night. Bohm went 3-for-4 with three hard-hit singles. This came a day after he hit not one, but two three-run homers.

The Phillies optioned first baseman/DH Darick Hall to triple-A Lehigh Valley after the game. Hall hadn’t been getting much playing time of late, and was batting .217/.217/.348 over his last seven games. Once Hall gets some more regular at-bats in Lehigh Valley, he can be added to the active roster when rosters expand on Sept. 2. For the season, he is batting .264/.296/.550.