Phillips homers in fourth straight game

May 8th, 2016

CINCINNATI -- Brandon Phillips did something Saturday night that he had never done before.
Phillips hit a pair of solo home runs in the Reds' 13-7 loss to the Brewers, giving him five home runs in the last four games. It is the longest consecutive-game streak of Phillips' career and leaves him one shy of equaling the franchise record of five straight games with a home run, a record shared by six different players.
It was the 1,500th game for Phillips as a Red. He is now hitting .297 with a slugging percentage of .554 this season. He has six homers and 16 RBIs, including nine RBIs in the last six games.
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"It's something to see. He's not missing his pitches, and he's worked really hard," said manager Bryan Price after the game. "I know he felt like he was pulling off the ball a little bit a few days ago, and he's been working real hard on staying on the ball. He's not just hitting mistakes. He's hitting some good pitches and doing a great job."

Phillips' first homer came with two outs in the third inning off Milwaukee starter Jimmy Nelson to give the Reds a 4-0 lead. The home run came on the first pitch Phillips saw from Nelson and measured 357 feet by Statcast™. It was reviewed to see if a fan had reached over the wall in left field and interfered with the ball, but the original ruling was confirmed.
His second home run had no such intrigue. It was a line-drive shot into the left-field seats, measured at 391 feet. That came in the 10th inning and accounted for the final score.
Phillips had previously hit home runs in three straight games, from June 13-15, 2012. Reds players have hit home runs in five consecutive games on six other occasions, the last of which was Devin Mesoraco from June 19-24, 2014. Johnny Bench holds the club record with seven home runs hit during his five-game stretch in 1972. The other four players on the list are: Ted Kluszewski (1954), George Crowe (1957), Ken Griffey, Jr. (2003) and Adam Dunn (2004).