Phillies Keep Hot Streak Going With Series-Opening Win Over Blue Jays
Adolis Garcia #53 of the Philadelphia Phillies catches a fly ball for an out in the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on April 4, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
Are the Phillies fully back to normal, or is Patrick Corbin still bad?
Coming off a successful 5-1 homestand, including a recent series win over the Chicago White Sox, the Phillies kicked off their six-game road trip with a series against the team up north, the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays are coming off an American League Pennant win last season and an unfortunate Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and were expected to be right back towards the top of the records in baseball this season. Well, like the Phillies, they’ve gotten off to a disappointing start to the season, and Toronto finds themselves two games under .500
Injuries and inconsistent hitting have caused Toronto to disappoint through the first 65 games of the season, and with summer right around the corner, they need to get back on track or risk missing the postseason altogether.
While the Phillies were in that boat, they eventually turned the corner and, after falling to 10 games under .500, the Phils have gone an astonishing 27-11 since improving to a season-best six games over .500 following their 5-2 win to open the series in Toronto.
With Corbin on the mound, the Phillies hitters got a bit antsy in the top of the first, with Bryce Harper being the sole runner who made it aboard, and that was only thanks to an error from left fielder Yohendrick Pinango.
Cristopher Sanchez, coming off his previous appearance, where he allowed his first run after 50.2 scoreless consecutive innings, got to work right away against the dangerous top of the Blue Jays order. Sanchez picked up an early strikeout against George Springer, a lineout from Nathan Lukes, and a deep flyout from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
In the top of the second, following a double play off the bat of J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott ripped a double to right center field, and Adolis Garcia picked him up with a bomb into the left field seats for his third home run in the last five games.
Two runs were all the Phillies could score in the second, but after Sanchez made quick work of Toronto in the bottom of the second thanks to a pair of strikeouts, the Phillies offense kept their foot on the gas.
Walk to Trea Turner, and Harper put two runners on, and a hit by pitch to Brandon Marsh loaded the bases for Alec Bohm, who ripped an RBI single to left for one run, and Relamuto followed that up with another single for another. With the bases still loaded, Stott was able to work another run from Corbin for a fifth run, but back-to-back ground outs ended the inning.
While he only allowed one run over his previous 50 innings pitched, Sanchez unfortunately allowed another one in the bottom of the third. A leadoff double off the bat of Myles Straw put an early runner on, and back-to-back groundouts with the infield back allowed Straw to make his way home for the first run of the night for Toronto.
Following on runs from either team in the fourth, Sanchez made a surprising mistake in the fifth, hanging a sinker over the plate to Ernie Clement, who smoked one into the left field seats, making it 5-2 Philadelphia.
Edmundo Sosa smoked a two-out double in the sixth inning for the Phillies’ first since Realmuto’s RBI single, but was unable to get a rally going to extend Philly’s lead. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Piñango led things off with a double and made it to third following a misplay from Garcia in right, putting a runner 90 feet away. While some may falter and allow that run, Sanchez did the exact opposite, sending the next three Blue Jays batters down to get out of the jam and end the inning scoreless.
The Phillies went down in order in the seventh, and Sanchez ran into trouble in the bottom half once again after allowing a single to Clement and a walk to Straw, but picked up a huge inning-ending groundout to get through seven innings of work for the seventh straight game.
Toronto threatened again in the eighth with Brad Keller on in relief for Sanchez, but he once again was able to get through unscathed, and Jhoan Duran came on to pick up his 16th save of the year. Despite allowing a one-out double from Andres Gimenez, Duran was able to get two roll-over grounders to finish things off, with the Phillies picking up the 5-2 win to open the series.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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