Top of order breaks out to make 10-run statement after early slump

DENVER -- After waiting nearly six months through a cold winter, baseball brings with it a sense of warmth and, if you’re a Phillies fan, an expectation of a real shot at winning the World Series.

So when Philadelphia opened its season with a 3-3 homestand -- one that was very nearly a 2-4 homestand -- with little production from the lineup’s biggest threats, there was some angst surrounding the two-time defending National League East champions.

But not in their clubhouse.

“They know they’re going to hit,” said manager Rob Thomson. “It’s just a matter of time.”

That time came in the Phils’ first road game of the season, a 10-1 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field on a chilly but sun-splashed Friday afternoon.

Entering the day with a team slash line of .220/.314/.360, with most of the offensive production coming from the bottom of the lineup, the big bats woke up after arriving in the Mile High City to back a stellar performance from starter Aaron Nola.

The first five batters in the Phillies' lineup combined to go 10-for-20 on the day, which included multi-hit games from Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott.

The Phillies got home runs from Brandon Marsh -- a Statcast-projected 454-foot blast into the second deck in right-center during a seven-run first -- Bryce Harper in the second and Kyle Schwarber, who crushed a Statcast-projected 460-foot homer into the second deck down the right-field line in the fifth.

It was a long-awaited -- if you include the winter, anyway -- tour de force from the Phils’ lineup, particularly its best hitters. Turner, Schwarber and Harper came into the game batting a combined .164 (12-for-73).

But while red flags popped up across Philly, still waiting for that first World Series title since 2008, the Phillies themselves, particularly the most prominent among them, weren’t worried.

“We all know it,” said Turner. “ … We all know it’s early. Do we want to play better from the start? Yes, obviously. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen. We got off to a good start on Opening Day, then lost two and it felt like the world was over.

“But we know in here, that’s not how it works.”

Harper’s homer was his second in as many games, and going back to the at-bat when he connected for his first long ball of the season in Wednesday’s series finale against the Nationals, he’s 3-for-5 after beginning the season 2-for-23.

But once again, we’re dealing in the smallest of sample sizes. And as Thomson pointed out, slumps to begin the year are not treated the same as slumps in the middle of August.

Harper would agree.

“That’s kind of how seasons go sometimes, right?” Harper said. “Some guys have good first months and then have a terrible rest of the season. Or they have a really bad first month and then they win an MVP. That’s why you play the whole season.

“... You don’t put too much stock in the first couple games. You just play your game, understand it’s a long season and you’ve just got to find value in playing a full season.”

On the mound, Nola bounced back after struggling somewhat in his season debut, throwing 6 1/3 brilliant innings over which he yielded one run on five hits, walked one and struck out nine.

On the heels of Nola's strong showing with Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic, the Phils hope they see the best version of him in 2026, one that hasn’t been seen consistently over the past few years.

“For myself, I really have to focus on pitching to the spots and not really trying to make the ball move because it’s really not going to move as much as it does other places,” Nola said of his outing Friday. “So it kind of zones me in, too, because it makes me focus on my spots a little more.”

It’s a long season. And just as a slow start at the plate is nothing to overreact about, a 10-run outburst at hitter-friendly Coors Field isn’t necessarily the start of a prodigious run at the plate.

For every “it’s not a big deal,” there’s also a “we’ll prove it.”

Perhaps Marsh, whose homer was the longest of his career, said it best.

“It was big,” Marsh said of Friday’s performance. “I think it was a statement for us to try to make, just to [show that] everything’s OK. Got a lot more ball to play.”