Phillies stay hot, take another series with 6-0 Mother’s Day win over Rockies
Cristopher Sánchez ran his scoreless streak to 20⅔ innings and Kyle Schwarber homered twice in Sunday's victory.
It was Game 41, the quarter pole of the season, and a time when front offices across baseball often begin to make judgments about the rosters they’ve built.
OK, so about the Phillies ...
“You know,” interim manager Don Mattingly said, “I feel like we’re going in the right direction now.”
It appears that way, doesn’t it? And not only because the Phillies thumped the lowly Rockies, 6-0, in the rubber game of a series Sunday in sold-out Citizens Bank Park.
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On days like this — when Kyle Schwarber goes deep twice to extend his home-run streak to four consecutive games, and Bryce Harper bangs a first-inning homer, and Cristopher Sánchez runs his scoreless streak to 20⅔ innings — it’s easy for the Phillies to find their equilibrium.
But after a 9-19 start that only a mother could love, a Mother’s Day victory pushed the Phillies to 10-3 under Mattingly. It’s the result of a softer schedule and much better starting pitching, but also undeniably crisper and cleaner play.
“Obviously we started off a little sideways,” Mattingly said. “But we regulated the pitching, kind of normalizing our starters; bullpen’s been good. We’re catching the baseball better now. The bats are getting better.
“So, I think it’s kind of normalizing. It would have happened no matter what. But to happen a little faster is good.”
Indeed, things couldn’t have been more normal in the finale against the Rockies.
Schwarber and Harper stirred the offense with back-to-back homers in the first inning against Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano.
For a change, the Phillies kept their foot on the pedal, scoring three runs in the second inning. It began with a leadoff double by Bryson Stott, who stole third and raced home on a throwing error. Alec Bohm walked and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly.
And then, another Schwarbomb made it 5-0.
» READ MORE: Struggling Alec Bohm believes he has ‘a lot of time on my side’ to break out of his slump
Sánchez did his usual thing, mixing sinkers and his signature changeup and mowing down the Rockies five days after he blanked the Athletics for eight innings. The ace lefty hasn’t allowed a run since the first inning against the Giants back on April 30.
The ninth inning even looked normal. Jhoan Duran, back up to speed after missing three weeks with a strained muscle in his left side, dialed up his fastball to 101 mph and struck out Mickey Moniak to end the game for his first save since April 11.
