The Philadelphia Phillies are tough to beat these days.
Especially at home.
The Phillies will look for their 12th consecutive home victory and their eighth straight overall when they face the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon in the finale of a two-game series.
Philadelphia stayed red hot with its 18th win in 21 games, routing the Blue Jays 10-1 on Tuesday.
Bryce Harper hit a grand slam and added a pair of singles while Kody Clemens added a home run, a triple and four RBIs. Clemens’ production came while using Harper’s bats.
“Every time he gets here, I give him a few,” Harper said in a postgame interview on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Harper’s fourth-inning grand slam broke the game open at 8-0, which was more than enough offense to propel the Phillies to another victory.
“We’ve just got to keep going,” Harper said. “We need consistency through the whole year. We have to keep this thing going all year long. We can’t be satisfied.”
The Phillies’ 26-11 record is the best in the major leagues. It is Philadelphia’s best start through 37 games since the 1993 squad began 27-10 en route to a World Series appearance.
Philadelphia scored 10 runs while Alec Bohm was given the night off following the end of his 18-game hitting streak on Monday.
The Phillies will hand the ball to Aaron Nola (4-1, 3.32 ERA) on Wednesday. Nola is 2-2 with a 5.29 ERA in six career starts against the Blue Jays.
Toronto has dropped five of six heading into the series finale.
The Blue Jays managed only six hits on Monday, and they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position while leaving five on base. They looked out of sync with the exception of Danny Jansen, who had two hits.
Manager John Schneider showed some unusual frustration when he was ejected by plate umpire Andy Fletcher in the fourth inning as he was taking Jose Berrios out and calling in Trevor Richards from the bullpen.
“It comes down to players in certain moments having really good at-bats or making really big pitches or making good plays on defense,” Schneider said of the Blue Jays’ struggles. “That’s what it comes down to. We can all look ourselves in the face and say that we’re not doing that right now.”
Chris Bassitt (2-5, 5.45) is scheduled to start for the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
In his latest start, against the Kansas City Royals on May 1, the right-hander allowed four hits and three runs in six innings in a 6-1 defeat. Bassitt had a no-hitter through five innings.
“I think he had a great game overall really,” Schneider said of Bassitt. “Five no-hit innings, a flair, a bunt and a couple ground balls that got through. Five no-hit innings is pretty damn good.”
The loss was Bassitt’s third straight.
“I think a lot can turn really fast,” Bassitt said. “I think a lot of guys are frustrated with where we’re at right now.”
Bassitt is 3-0 with a 1.58 ERA in four career starts against the Phillies, with all of those outings occurring in 2022.
–Field Level Media