Edmundo Sosa homered and Kyle Schwarber had two hits, reached base four times and scored twice to lead the visiting Philadelphia Phillies past the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 Friday night.
Taijuan Walker (1-1) had his best outing of the season, limiting the Reds to four hits and one run over six innings, striking out four and walking two.
J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm each drove in two runs for the Phillies, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in eight road games.
Bohm worked a leadoff walk off Cincinnati starter and loser Connor Overton (0-1) to begin the second but was thrown out by Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson trying to steal second. It was the first time in 11 attempts this season that a Phillies runner was caught stealing.
The lost baserunner proved significant. Two batters later, Sosa drove an outside fastball to the seats in right-center for a 2-0 lead.
The Phillies pushed three runs across in the third for a 5-0 lead thanks to one-out damage off Overton. Schwarber walked and scored on a Nick Castellanos double to center. Castellanos scored on a triple to left by Brandon Marsh. And Marsh scored on Realmuto’s sacrifice fly.
Overton was pulled after three innings, allowing five runs on five hits. In three starts, Overton has been tagged for 14 runs and 19 hits in 11 innings, with an ERA of 11.45.
The Reds got a run back in the bottom of the third when Jake Fraley drove home Jose Barrero with a single to right.
Jonathan India’s two-out single scored Spencer Steer in the seventh to cut Philadelphia’s lead to 5-2. But the Phillies countered with three off Fernando Cruz in the ninth on Realmuto’s run-scoring double and a two-run single from Bohm.
Fresh from his record-setting 11 straight strikeouts, Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado struck out three more batters in a scoreless eighth. The hard-throwing lefty has 16 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings this season.
In the fourth inning, Bryson Stott extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-out double to left field, the longest Philadelphia hitting streak to open a season since Puddin’ Head Jones hit safely in 16 straight to open the 1950 season.
–Field Level Media