Phils win series in Cincy despite burned out offense

The Phillies squeaked through this series against a torn-apart Reds team. The Phillies won two out of three games but it surely was not the prettiest. The Reds have struggled this year, and with the Phillies in the playoff hunt, they need to beat the bad teams consistently. They have been doing that as of late and continued it throughout this series.

Game Summaries

In game one, Noah Syndergaard took the bump for the Phils. Syndergaard had a great outing. He went seven innings and allowed three runs on eight hits. Timely hitting was the name of the game. All of the Phillies’ RBI came with two outs. Nick Castellanos had a RBI and Edmundo Sosa had three.

The bullpen came in and got the job done as usual. They have been electric this year and have been a huge part of the team’s success.

Mike Minor got the start for the Reds and allowed 4 runs on 10 hits. The Phillies hit the ball well and played good team baseball in this one.

The Phillies came out firing in game two of this series. The bats started out cold, but they turned it around eventually. The offense was headlined by Rhys Hoskins’ two homers, Nick Castellanos’ three hits, and Darick Hall’s home run.

And how could you forget fan-favorite Garrett Stubbs, who hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning. Hoskins and Castellanos had 17 total bases combined in this hitting extravaganza.

Kyle Gibson pitched for the Phillies and threw the Kyle Gibson way. It wasn’t a shutout, but he held them to three runs over six innings of work. His command was on point, a recurring theme when he has success. Gibson didn’t allow a single walk and had 11 strikeouts, tying a career-high.

Game three was a pitching duel, to say the least. With a final score of 1-0, there wasn’t much to this game.

Ranger Suarez took the mound for the Phillies and was electric. He went seven innings and allowed three hits and zero runs. He had eight strikeouts and allowed two walks.

The bats were quiet throughout this whole game for both teams, but a weak walk-off single in the ninth inning gave the Reds a win.

Could Stott stay at the leadoff spot?

With the absence of Kyle Schwarber, the Phillies needed someone to fill the leadoff batter role. Rob Thomson put the young rookie, Bryson Stott, in that position. He was given the day off yesterday but was in the one-hole the five games before that. In those five games, he had a .333 batting average.

It wasn’t the greatest performance over the five games, but it could give the Phillies more room to move Schwarber around the lineup for a possibility of producing more RBI. It would give the Phillies lineup even more depth than it already has.

It’s definitely a possibility, so we will have to see which way Thomson leans when Schwarber returns.

The Phillies will host the Mets for a four-game series beginning Friday.