Offense stays hot in Phillies’ win over Royals
After scoring 26 runs in their final three games against the Mets this week, the Phillies put together another strong offensive performance on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, defeating the Royals, 8-2.
Six Phillies — Harrison Bader, Bryce Harper, Otto Kemp, Max Kepler, Bryson Stott and Rafael Marchán — put together multi-hit performances. The Phillies scored their eight runs on 14 hits.
Bader’s 2-for-5 night gave him his fifth consecutive game with multiple hits. It was his sixth multi-hit game this month. Bader now has a .342 batting average and .945 OPS with the Phillies.
Marchán put the Phillies on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a sacrifice fly, tying the game at one. They took the lead and didn’t look back an inning later.
Harper sent a 1-0 sinker from Royals starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen into the left-center field seats for a go-ahead, two-run home run in the bottom of the third. It was Harper’s 26th home run of the season.
Kemp padded the lead later in the third with an RBI single. Kemp’s been hot since rejoining the Phillies earlier this week; he’s 7-for-17 with six RBIs.
The Phillies added on thanks to three straight doubles to start the bottom of the fourth. Marchán led off the inning, and Bader drove him home one batter later. Kyle Schwarber hit the third of the three doubles, extending the Phillies’ lead to 6-1. They scored their last two runs on a two-run jack by Stott in the bottom of the seventh.
On the mound, Walker Buehler picked up the win. The veteran right-hander went five innings in his Phillies debut. Buehler allowed one run on five hits. He struck out three batters and walked one.
Friday’s win was the Phillies’ 27th since the start of August, the most in the majors. They’re now 88-60 on the year and continue to inch closer to securing their second straight NL East title.