PHILADELPHIA -- For the better part of the past month, the Phillies' pitching staff has been picking up the slack for a sluggish offense.
This weekend, however, the offense finally started to return the favor.
Despite their starting pitcher allowing at least five runs in all three games, the Phillies earned a series victory over the White Sox with Sunday afternoon's 9-5 win at Citizens Bank Park. That's quite the development for a team that just went more than two weeks (May 19-June 3) without scoring five runs in a single game.
The Phils have now done so in three of their past four games, including Sunday's nine-run outburst in which eight of their nine starters reached base at least once.
Needless to say, wins like these are a bit more fun.
“A lot less pressure, for sure,” said Brandon Marsh, who stayed red-hot by homering for a third straight game. “Just a lot less pressure not being just the one-run games or the tie ballgames late.”
Though the Phillies have the second-best record in the Majors since interim manager Don Mattingly took over (26-11), those wins all followed a similar blueprint: Great starting pitching, a few runs typically generated by the top of the order and a shutdown closer in Jhoan Duran.
But take a look at the starting pitching from this weekend's series against the White Sox:
• Jesús Luzardo (Friday): 6 IP, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 3 HR
• Andrew Painter (Saturday): 4 2/3 IP, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR
• Aaron Nola (Sunday): 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
That's a 9.60 ERA -- and the Phillies still won the series. That would not have been possible the way this offense was performing prior to this weekend.
“The pitching has given us a chance to get going,” Mattingly said. “ … But this series, we kind of broke out and were able to help the pitching with offense, and that's really what you want to do.”
Once again leading the charge was Marsh, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs and a walk on Sunday. It’s the first time in his career he’s gone deep three games in a row.
“It seems like now we're starting to talk about him every day, like we talk about [Cristopher Sánchez], you know?” Mattingly said. “Every day he's just swinging the bat, he continues to swing it -- and not only for average, but power.”
Marsh acknowledged this is the best he’s ever felt at the plate -- but he did push back on that last part.
“I don't know about the power,” he said. “That was first row, bro.”
Call it what you want, but Marsh went 12-for-24 (.500) with four extra-base hits (including three homers) during the Phillies' 5-1 homestand.
“A 5-1 homestand after a 4-2 [road trip] is awesome,” Marsh said. “We’ve just got to keep this train going.”
Marsh had plenty of help on Sunday.
Bryce Harper got things started with an RBI single in the first to score Trea Turner. One inning later, Rafael Marchán -- who entered the day hitting .094 in his limited opportunities behind starting catcher J.T. Realmuto -- hit a two-run homer.
Alec Bohm had a pair of hits and two RBIs -- and his first stolen base of the season. Justin Crawford notched a hit and picked up his first RBI since May 17.
“The good thing about this team is if the big guys can't do it that day,” Marchán said, “there's gonna be somebody down there that's gonna find a way to help the team to win.”
It all helped to take Nola off the hook on a day when he raised his season ERA to 5.86. His four walks ended a career-best-tying streak of three consecutive starts without issuing a free pass.
“Everything’s been driven by our pitchers, and they've set the tone for us,” Marsh said. “And as hitters, we’ve picked it up now as well. We’ve just got to keep that going and keep feeding off of each other, and you know we're gonna have to do that to get to where we want to be.”
The Phillies have won a Major League-high 14 one-run games this season. Sunday, though, marked just the 10th time they’ve won a game by at least four runs. Only three teams -- the Rockies, Royals and Cardinals -- have fewer such wins.
“We talk about some games you have to win 10-8, some 2-1,” Mattingly said. “Whatever it is you have to do to win a game, that's kind of what you want to be.”