Nothin’ but a good time: Phillies 6, Giants 1

The Giants had no chance against Zack Wheeler and the red hot Phillies.

After the Phillies handled the unimpressive Angels and Padres with relative ease in previous series, there was some worry that the Giants and their strong rotation might slow the Phillies down. But the way things are going for the Phillies, I’m not sure any team could slow them down. Heck, the Giants didn’t even serve as a speed bump.

In Monday afternoon’s series finale, we got more of the same from the Phillies. They got a great effort from the starting pitcher, their franchise player hit a three-run home run (for the second day in a row!), and the Phillies completed a four-game sweep by beating the Giants 6-1, marking their sixth win in a row.

Early on, the Phillies had a little bit of trouble with Giants rookie starting pitcher Mason Black. Making his major league debut, the rookie held them scoreless for the first three innings, much to the delight of his personal cheering section.

But in the fourth inning, his ERA finally rose from 0.00. A pair of two-out walks followed by a Whit Merrifield single gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

The following inning, his ERA rose a bit more. Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto had back-to-back singles to open the inning, and Bryce Harper officially welcomed the rookie to the big leagues.

A pair of doubles by Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos – his first of the year! – extended the lead to 5-0, which was four more runs than they actually needed.

They had Zack Wheeler on the mound, and Wheeler was doing his thing. He struck out 11 batters in seven innings, and the only run he allowed was unearned. Just another day at the office for perhaps the best pitcher in baseball.

If the Giants thought they had a chance when Wheeler left the game, they thought wrong. Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering handled the final two innings without much difficulty, allowing just a single hit over the two frames.

Kyle Schwarber tacked on an insurance run with an eighth inning home run, but all that did was improve the Phillies’ Pythagorean record by a smidge.

With the Giants swept out of town, the Phillies will try to extend their winning streak to seven games on Tuesday when they welcome the Blue Jays to town. Past incarnations of the Phillies have had their issues against the Jays, but the way things are going for the Phillies at the moment, it feels like even they can’t stop the good times for the Phils.