The Phillies came out sharply with a bang yesterday. They definitely made a decent statement after getting dominated by Max Meyer the day prior. They scored six of their seven runs in the very first inning of their 7-2 victory. They sort of scratched and clawed for their initial runs. Gathering walks, walking in a run, fielder's choiced a run, sac flied a run, but then Bryson Stott came through with a huge three-run shot to give the Phillies a substantial 6-0 lead. It was Bryson's second homer of the season, both of which came against this Marlins team in this series. Maybe Bryson just needed to be in the Florida air.
From that point on it was smooth sailing. Jesús Luzardo had a strong outing on the mound. He may have fatigued a bit at the end but he was still very good. He went 6 1/3 innings, struck out ten while allowing just two runs. This is Luzardo's second consecutive victory and he moves to 3-3 on the year. Decent signs from him that he could be looking better.
Aaron Nola pitches tonight and I hope he's looking better in this series finale over an NL East opponent. Nola simply might not be the same type of pitcher as he once was, we'll see how it goes for him going forward.
The Phillies are practically 21% through their season with a 14-20 record. They're 10.5 games behind the 25-10 Braves in the NL East. Man, every win counts right now!