The Phillies talk a lot about their resiliency as a club — the ability to bounce back from tough series, ugly losses, dispiriting starts to games.
They've demonstrated that characteristic over the last week, winning four of their last seven games despite their opponent scoring first in all seven.
Cristopher Sanchez allowed a two-run homer in the first inning to Paul Goldschmidt Friday night but the Phillies came back with three runs in the second and one in the third to build a multi-run lead and win 7-2.
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Four of the first 10 Phillies hitters who came to the plate doubled off of Miles Mikolas, a contact-based right-hander who couldn't keep his sinker as low as he would have liked.
Garrett Stubbs, starting behind the plate for J.T. Realmuto, started the scoring with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the second. He didn't hit the ball hard but hit it to a perfect spot, dropping it in just to the right of third baseman Nolan Arenado to plate two. Kyle Schwarber followed with an RBI double of his own after falling behind in the count 0-2.
The Phils tacked on another run in the third when Bryce Harper singled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and flyout and scored on Bryson Stott's sacrifice fly. Alec Bohm hit his career-high 14th home run to extend the lead in the sixth and Schwarber parked his 35th an inning later. Schwarber has eight home runs and 18 RBI in his last 16 games.
Harper also tripled and scored in the seventh inning. He's 14-for-30 over the last eight games with a double, triple, five homers, nine RBI and 11 runs scored.
Philadelphia Phillies
“I feel like I’m in a good spot right now,” Schwarber said. “I feel like the whole team is in a pretty good spot right now. We’ve been swinging well, taking good at-bats, working deep counts and getting rewarded for it. Just got to keep it going.”
The consistent offense throughout the game was welcomed because the Phillies have done most of their recent scoring late. They'd scored 51 runs in their last seven games entering Friday with 28 coming in the seventh inning or later.
Sanchez continues to perform for the Phillies. They had no answer in the fifth spot in their rotation for the season's first 2½ months but have had the best No. 5 starter in all of baseball since recalling him from Triple A on June 17. Sanchez has the second-lowest WHIP (0.97) and fifth-best walk rate (3.8%) in MLB over that span. His 3.14 ERA is eighth-best in the National League.
Again Friday night, Sanchez didn't walk anybody. He has walked less than one of every 25 batters he's faced since being called back up. He hasn't just corrected the control issue that held him back in the minors, he's turned it into his biggest strength. Only George Kirby, Logan Webb, Zach Eflin and Braxton Garrett have been stingier with free passes than Sanchez since he returned to the majors.
"He's given us quality starts almost every time out," manager Rob Thomson said. "He's just been a godsend for us because we were really struggling in that spot early in the year, trying to fill it in, using (Matt) Strahm and building his innings to the point where he's got a lot of innings on him. Sanchy coming in here and doing what he's done has been really good for us."
The Phillies are 70-58 after the win and 3-1 on their nine-game homestand. They're three games ahead of the Cubs and Diamondbacks for the top wild-card spot.
The Phils have to feel good about the rest of the weekend with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola starting opposite another right-hander who doesn't miss bats Saturday in Dakota Hudson and a rookie left-hander Sunday in Drew Rom.
The Cardinals' inability to generate whiffs this season has been a major problem. They have the third-worst rates of strikeouts and swinging strikes, the second-highest rate of contact and the second-highest opponents' batting average in MLB. The only teams worse in any of those categories are the Rockies and Nationals. The Phillies will face the Cards five more times.
St. Louis' president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak, said this summer that the time has come for the Cardinals to adjust how they develop pitchers and who they pursue. For years, they've cared less about missing bats than the rest of the league and have found success with quick, weak contact. The elimination of the infield shift has affected them, as has the aging of pitchers like Mikolas and Adam Wainwright.
File that away in the back of your mind because the Cardinals seem like a prime suitor for Nola this offseason.