Phillies roll Rockies, 7-4, to earn first series win in Colorado since 2012

DENVER — It took the Phillies five innings to get their first hit and they didn’t get their first run until the seventh on Friday night. On Saturday, it took them just four batters to get their first hit and it opened the floodgates for a four-run first inning..

Nick Castellanos got that first hit, an RBI single following walks to Trea Turner and Bryce Harper; Alec Bohm followed with a two-run single; and Kody Clemens hit a groundout to score Kyle Schwarber (walk) to give the Phillies an early 4-0 lead en route to a 7-4 win. They walked four times in the first.

The Phillies didn’t score another run until the top of the eighth when Garrett Stubbs drove home Clemens with a single to right field. They blew the game open in the top of the ninth when Harper stepped up to the plate with one on and no outs. He took one pitch, swung at the second, fouled off the third, and launched the fourth — a low curveball — 439 feet to right field.

Less than six months after Tommy John surgery, Harper is hitting .361/.439/.611 in his first nine games with a 1.050 OPS. He gone hitless in only two of those nine games. Saturday, he was 2-for-4 with a double and the homer.

That, combined with another impressive performance from the bullpen, was enough to manage the win over Colorado. This weekend marks the first time the Phillies have won a series in Colorado in over a decade (July 13-15, 2012). They’ve now won five games in a row, and are one game above .500.

“Good pitching, good hitting, scoring more runs than the other team,” Harper said. “Being the team that we know how to be. We have Nola going [Sunday] so we have a good opportunity to win six in a row. Just keep going. We’re not really worried about anything besides pitching well, playing well, seeing where we’re at.”

The story of Saturday was supposed to be the return of Ranger Suárez, who made his first start of the season after suffering a left elbow strain in the World Baseball Classic. But while Suárez gave the Phillies a solid performance — allowing three runs on seven hits over four innings — it was the bullpen that kept them in the game.

Connor Brogdon relieved Suárez in the fifth and allowed just one of the seven batters he faced to reach base (walk). Andrew Bellatti entered in relief of Brogdon in the seventh inning. In his first outing since he was activated off the 15-day injured list on Wednesday, Bellatti faced the top of the Rockies lineup. He induced a groundout and two strikeouts.

The last batter he faced, Rockies catcher Elias Diaz worked a 3-0 count. But Bellatti battled his way back, striking out Diaz on a slider.

Right-hander Jeff Hoffman entered in the eighth. He hadn’t thrown since May 6 and was not as dominant as Brogdon and Bellatti. After C.J. Cron reached on an error by Turner, Hoffman allowed a double and then a groundout that scored Cron. The run was unearned.

Hoffman would strike out Alan Trejo to end the inning, and Gregory Soto retired all three batters he faced for his first save as a Phillie.

“I thought everyone coming out of the bullpen lately has been pretty lights out, especially with [Jose] Alvarado going down,” Harper said. “We need our guys in the back end to really do their job and they’ve been able to do that.”

Suárez said he felt good in his first outing back. His command wasn’t as sharp as it normally is, but both he and manager Rob Thomson think that will come with time.

“I thought he was OK,” Thomson said of Suárez. “I think the command wasn’t like it would be in the middle of the season. Really, that’s his first outing out of spring training, for him. But he battled, he fought. That was a long first inning, a long second inning, unfortunately, with the injury, which I hate to see. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I thought his changeup was good. He did locate some fastballs, but I don’t think his location was Ranger-like.”

The injury Thomson was talking about came in the second inning. Castellanos hit a hard line drive up the middle, which hit Rockies starter Ryan Feltner on the side of his head. Feltner was lying face down on the ground for a few minutes as the training staff talked to him. He came out of the game shortly after that, walking off the mound with the help two trainers.

“I felt like I was running to first base because it was my job,” sad Castellanos. “What I thought was, ‘Holy [expletive], I hit him.’ There was a part of me that wanted to go to the mound. But I guess the baseball player takes over. And you just run to first, and as soon as I touched first I turned around, and was really just hoping that what happened didn’t happen.”

Castellanos said he heard from some of Feltner’s teammates after the game. They told him that Feltner is doing OK, and undergoing some precautionary tests at a local hospital.

Castellanos now has 16 multi-hit games this season. After going 3-for-4 with a walk, he now has six three-hit games. The right fielder is hitting .393/.393/.607 over his last seven games, and .325/.370/.517 this season.

“He’s really swinging the bat good,” said Thomson. “He’s so confident right now, on offensive and defense. It’s really good to see. I think you’re seeing the true Nick Castellanos.”