Phillies complete sweep, improve to 14-4 under Don Mattingly
PITTSBURGH — Zack Wheeler pitched seven glowing innings, and Bryce Harper hit a house run off ace Paul Skenes on Sunday to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates and a sweep of the three-game collection.
The resurgent Phillies improved to 14-4 under interim supervisor Don Mattingly and snuck over the .500 mark (at 24-23) for the primary time since April 7. Philadelphia has not misplaced a collection with Mattingly on the helm.
“I thought we battled,” Mattingly mentioned of how the Phillies hit Skenes, the defending National League Cy Young Award winner. “I thought we just fought him. And that’s what you have to do against guys like him. He’s going to get his outs; he’s going to make pitches. But you’ve got to keep fighting and just keep fouling off, trying to fight just to get something. And I thought we did that kind of up and down the order.”
Wheeler (3-0) gave up 4 hits whereas putting out eight and strolling one. His ERA is 1.99 in six begins since starting the season on the injured listing whereas recovering from surgical procedure to have a blood clot faraway from his higher proper arm. Jonathan Bowlan and Tanner Banks pitched one inning every to end the five-hitter.
“We feel good,” Phillies shortstop Trea Turner he mentioned. “This is what we’re capable of; we obviously didn’t want to start the way we did, but we feel good, we feel like we’re playing good baseball.”
Harper led off the sixth inning together with his twelfth house run to push the Phillies’ lead to 3-0. Later within the inning, Bryson Stott added a two-run double off reliever Isaac Mattson with the runs being charged to Skenes (6-3), who was lifted after Alec Bohm singled and Brandon Marsh doubled.
The Phillies have gained seven of eight video games, though they’re eight video games behind first-place Atlanta Braves within the National League East. The Phillies have been 8-18 on April 25 after they activated Wheeler and are 16-5 since his return.
“Just focus on who is in front of us,” Turner mentioned with regard to getting again into playoff rivalry. “There’s a lot of baseball left. We’ve got to keep playing good team ball and stack up wins.”
Skenes tied a profession excessive by giving up 5 runs in five-plus innings. He allowed six hits, struck out seven and walked one.
Skenes’ career-best scoreless innings streak ended at 20 when the Phillies had a two-run fifth. Justin Crawford drove within the first run on a groundout, and Turner adopted with an RBI single because the Pirates misplaced for the fourth time in 5 video games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
