Phillies Looking to Wake Bats Back Up: ‘We Need to Score More Runs’

Ever since Don Mattingly was given the reins to the 2026 Phillies, victories have become more abundant, and confidence surrounding the team has increased drastically. A team that seemed lifeless just a few short weeks ago is now in a three-way tie with the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates for the top Wild Card spot in the National League. The turnaround was unexpected, but oddities like this seem to be the Phillies’ M.O. over the past few seasons, a change in performance eerily similar to when Rob Thomson earned a promotion in 2022.

This season, in particular, it’s the pitching that has settled into a routine. Cristopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler are solidified as two of the best pitchers in baseball, with Sanchez earning the honor of National League Pitcher of the Month for May after snapping his streak of 50.2 scoreless innings in game two against the Padres. Since Zack Wheeler’s return, the Phillies have an impressive 25-11 record. Even Aaron Nola, who has struggled for all of 2026, recently tallied two consecutive starts with five or more innings pitched and two or fewer runs allowed for the first time this season. Overshadowed by Sanchez’s success, southpaw Jesus Luzardo has a stellar 2.50 ERA in his last seven starts.

Clearly, the evidence of the pitching staff’s success is widespread, but the offense has remained questionable throughout this stretch. In their win in the final game of the Padres series, the Phillies scored more than four runs in a game for the first time since May 17. In their last four series, the Phillies’ offense has averaged just 2.75 runs per game, despite salvaging eight victories in that 12-game stretch.

“I don’t think over the course of a season it’s super sustainable,” Bryce Harper said in reference to the Phillies’ tight wins over the last few weeks. “Obviously, as an offense, we want to score more runs, and we need to score more runs. So we just keep going, keep plugging, [and] do the best we can. We’ve got to score runs and win games by [more] than one or two runs.”

The Phillies’ offense showed signs of real life in the final game against the Padres, scoring six runs on ten hits and forcing Padres manager Craig Stammen to turn to his bullpen in just the fifth inning. What’s also noteworthy is that four of the Phillies’ five RBIs came from Trea Turner, two off the bat of Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, and Adolis Garcia, all of whom have struggled mightily over the last two weeks.

It’s no secret that these four guys will be relied upon heavily down the stretch, and there’s no doubt that they will get out of this slump when games matter the most in August and September. In fact, after a grueling 9-1 loss in the rubber match against the Dodgers, interim manager Mattingly reinforced the confidence he has in his team:

“We’ve pitched really well. We haven’t really got on track offensively… We’ll keep working on that, and we feel like that’s going to break out at some point.”

Maybe Mattingly’s wish has been granted, and this would certainly be a good time for that to be the case. Now, it may feel like a fever dream, but winning the NL East for the third year in a row is not out of the question. Just last season, the Phillies trailed the Mets by 5.5 games. Eight days later, they were in first place, and they never looked back. Now, nine games behind the 42-20 Atlanta Braves — a team boasting the best record in all of baseball — it would certainly take some legwork to earn yet another East pennant. But last year’s journey to the top proves that it does not take much to create turbulence in the standings.

Every year it takes something different, and this year it may have been a simple change in the clubhouse. The Phillies are now 24-10 after Mattingly took over, and the players are as confident as ever.

“April’s behind us,” Harper said. “We’ve got to step forward and understand that we’re stacking days and playing better and just keep it going.”

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