It’s nice having a laugher: Phillies 14, Giants 3

It’s nice having a laugher: Phillies 14, Giants 3

Every year, there are games that get out of hand. Anecdotally, it feels like the Phillies are on the receiving end of the beatdown. necessitating someone like Garrett Stubbs to come in to pitch an inning or so. Tonight, it was pleasant to see the Phillies able to be the ones to hand out the beating, this time at the expense of the Giants.

Keaton Winn was on the mound for the Giants, a pitcher that came into the game with an ERA nearer to 3 than 4. He’s done that by being able to throw strikes with something resembling accuracy and regularity. Tonight, facing a Phillies lineup that was without their shortstop, the ability to do both eluded Winn. Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto started out with walks, Bryce Harper singled and in a flash, the bases were loaded. Catcher Tom Murphy went to the mound to calm down Winn….who promptly hit Alec Bohm for the first run of the game. Brandon Marsh drove in the second run with an RBI single, followed by Nick Castellanos grounding into a double play that probably would’ve been challenged had it happened later in the game, but got the run in regardless. Bryson Stott singled to score another, Edmundo Sosa singled to follow and suddenly, Winn was gone, sent to showers not found on the field. Johan Rojas greeted reliever Mitch White with an RBI single of his own and it was 5-0. With Ranger Suarez on the mound, the game felt over.

It was. The rest of the night was the Phillies just piling on.

The second inning was the Phillies scoring on a leadoff triple by Realmuto, who scored on a wild pitch that drove Murphy from the game, the Giants’ second catcher in as many days needing to leave early. The bases became loaded again only for Castellanos to get a run in on a fielder’s choice. Stott singled to follow, making the score 8-0. Sosa grounded out for the ninth run and effectively ending any hope of the Giants making a comeback.

Did Suarez have his A+ stuff tonight? No, not really. He gave up some hits, some runs on a home run by who else, Wilmer Flores. But on a night like this, you just don’t want him getting hurt for no reason.

Speaking of which, Alec Bohm had to leave early with right hip tightness. Something to keep an eye on.

Let’s see, what else happened…

Matt Chapman had another error tonight, giving the Phillies a few more runs that put them into double digits. I was under the impression he was a Gold Glove caliber third baseman.

What else, what else…oh, Kyle Schwarber continued reviving himself after a pretty cold stretch of games there. His two-run single in the sixth inning pushed him across the 20 RBI threshold for the season.

Oh, and Whit Merrifield homered! That’s good news with his playing time about to increase quite a bit over the next month and a half.

It really was a good night for the team. So long as the Bohm injury was nothing more than the team wanting to be extra cautious in the same day they lost Turner, it can be considered a pretty successful three hours in Phillies-land.

Oh, and Keaton? He didn’t….Winn.

I’ve been waiting this whole time to write that. You’re welcome.