Phillies Stat of the Day: August 2021

September 2nd, 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Phillies this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

Aug. 31: Phillies 12, Nationals 6 -- Marchan only homers in MLB
Rafael Marchan hit a game-tying two-run homer to left-center field in the sixth inning against the Nationals. It was his first homer of the season and the second of his big league career. Marchan has homered twice in 50 plate appearances in his MLB career, which is noteworthy considering he is homerless in 1,074 career plate appearances in the Minor Leagues.

Aug. 30: Phillies 7, Nationals 4 -- 7 again
The Phillies have scored seven or more runs in five consecutive games. Remarkably, it is the Phillies' longest streak like that since a five-game streak from May 2-6, 1980. They have not had six consecutive games with seven or more runs since a run of seven such games from June 19-24, 1933 -- the year Hall of Fame outfielder Chuck Klein won the Triple Crown.

Aug. 29: Phillies 7, D-backs 4 -- Stingy Suárez
Ranger Suárez has not allowed a home run in his six starts since joining the rotation, facing 111 batters over 26 2/3 innings. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Suárez is the first Phillies pitcher with at least 25 innings in a calendar month not to allow a home run since Zach Eflin in June 2018 (30 2/3 innings).

Aug. 28: Phillies 7, D-backs 0 -- Segura joins the club
Jean Segura became the eighth Phillies player this season to hit at least 10 homers. Entering Saturday, only four teams in the Majors had eight or more players with at least 10 home runs: Giants (nine), Orioles (eight), Twins (eight) and A's (eight).

Aug. 27: Phillies 7, D-backs 6 (11 innings) -- Harper's 25th
Bryce Harper hit his 25th homer of the season. It is the fifth 25-homer season of his career (others: 2015, 2017-19). He has hit at least 25 homers in each of his last four 162-game seasons. Entering this contest, only five other players had four 25-homer seasons since 2017: Kyle Schwarber, Hunter Renfroe, Aaron Judge, Nelson Cruz and Nolan Arenado.

Aug. 26: D-backs 8, Phillies 7 -- Segura breaks through
Second baseman Jean Segura hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning. It has been a rough go lately for Segura, who had just four hits in his previous 49 at-bats.

Aug. 25: Rays 7, Phillies 4 -- Wheeler's Cy Young quest bolstered
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler struck out Brett Phillips in the sixth inning for his 200th strikeout of the season, hitting that mark for the first time in his career. It is the 34th time in Phillies history a pitcher has struck out 200 or more batters in a season. Wheeler is the 14th different pitcher to accomplish the feat, and the first since Aaron Nola in 2019.

Aug. 24: Rays 3, Phillies 1 -- Suárez stretches out
Phillies left-hander Ranger Suárez continues to pitch well since moving from the bullpen to the rotation earlier this month. He struck out seven in 6 2/3 innings against the Rays. Both numbers were career highs. He allowed six hits, one run and one walk, leaving to a nice ovation from the Citizens Bank Park crowd in the seventh inning.

Aug. 22: Phillies 7, Padres 4 – Rhys matches Gavvy
Rhys Hoskins' two-homer day moved him up the Phillies’ record books. Hoskins hit home runs Nos. 116 and 117 of his career to tie Gavvy Cravath for 19th in franchise history. Up next is Andy Seminick (123) in 18th place.

Aug. 21: Padres 4, Phillies 3 (10 innings) -- Nola vs. Nola
When Phillies starter Aaron Nola faced Padres catcher Austin Nola, his older brother, it made it the first time in Phillies history that a Phillies pitcher faced his position-player brother in a Major League game, per Elias Sports Bureau. It was also the first time that a Phillies player pitched to his brother since 1988, when Mike Maddux pitched to Hall of Famer pitcher Greg Maddux of the Cubs on July 31, 1988.

Aug. 20: Phillies 4, Padres 3 -- Segura gets on, moves on
Jean Segura's three walks and two stolen bases against the Padres make him just the second Phillies player since the start of 2006 to have three or more walks and two steals in a game. The last Phillies player to do so was Cèsar Hernández on April 5, 2018. Before that, you have to go back to Bobby Abreu on May 19, 2005.

Aug. 19: D-backs 6, Phillies 2 -- Wheeler hits bump in road
Zack Wheeler is a front-runner for the National League Cy Young Award, but he has not been as sharp lately. After he allowed six runs in 6 2/3 innings in this loss, Wheeler fell to 4-4 with a 4.28 ERA in his past eight starts. He has allowed four or more earned runs in five of those outings. In 54 2/3 innings during this stretch, he has struck out 55 and walked 11. In his first 17 starts, he had a 2.05 ERA, 139 strikeouts and 25 walks in 114 innings.

Aug. 18: D-backs 4, Phillies 2 -- Arizona keeps Harper off base
Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper's 24-game on-base streak ended with an 0-for-4 night. It was the longest active streak in the Majors and just shy of his career-high 27-game streak in 2017 with the Nationals.

Aug. 17: D-backs 3, Phillies 2 -- Offense in a funk
The Phillies batted .289 with a .901 OPS during their eight-game winning streak, hitting 16 homers and scoring 55 runs (6.9 per game). They have lost five of seven since then. They are batting .183 with a .556 OPS in that stretch, hitting just four homers and scoring only 17 runs (2.4 per game).

Aug. 15: Reds 7, Phillies 4 -- Nola's inconsistency
Sunday's 4 1/3-inning outing marked Aaron Nola’s 11th start this season of five or fewer innings. He has only nine quality starts (at least six innings and three earned runs or fewer) out of 24. In comparison, Zack Wheeler has 16 out of 24, Kyle Gibson has 15 out of 21 and Zach Eflin, who has not pitched since July 16, has 11 out of 18.

Aug. 14: Phillies 6, Reds 1 -- Moore's still got it
Matt Moore did not allow a hit to the 19 batters he faced. He earned his first win as a starter since April 17, 2018, when he pitched for Texas at Tampa Bay.

Aug. 13: Reds 6, Phillies 1 -- Rare HRs off Wheeler
Zack Wheeler allowed four runs in six innings, serving up a three-run homer to Joey Votto and a solo homer to Nick Castellanos. Entering the game, Wheeler ranked second out of 48 qualified Major League pitchers, averaging only 0.58 home runs per nine innings. He had not allowed more than one home run in a start since he allowed three against the Giants on April 20 at Citizens Bank Park.

Aug. 12: Phillies 2, Dodgers 1 -- Big Toe comes through
Ronald Torreyes continues to be a clutch performer. His two-out single to center field in the fourth inning gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead. Torreyes entered the game ranked eighth among NL East position players in Win Probability Added at 1.44, which was third among all Phillies position players behind only Bryce Harper (2.40 WPA) and Jean Segura (2.15 WPA).

Aug. 11: Dodgers 8, Phillies 2 -- Bellinger beats Gibson
Kyle Gibson and Cody Bellinger engaged in an epic 13-pitch at-bat in the top of the fourth inning, with Bellinger fouling off nine pitches until he stroked a two-run home run to left-center field. It tied the longest plate appearance of Gibson's career. It was the longest at-bat of Bellinger's career. It also tied the longest at-bat by a Phillies pitcher that ended with a home run. Kyle Abbott allowed a grand slam to the Cubs' Gary Scott on April 20, 1992, at Wrigley Field, and Vicente Padilla allowed a two-run homer to the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera on Sept. 23, 2004, at Pro Player Stadium.

Aug. 10: Dodgers 5, Phillies 0 -- Longest win streak since 2011
The Phillies' loss to the Dodgers snapped their eight-game winning streak, their longest since a nine-game streak from July 29-Aug. 6, 2011. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Antonio Bastardo each earned a pair of wins in that stretch. Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick and Vance Worley earned the other three.

Aug. 8: Phillies 3, Mets 0 -- Harper hits 20
Bryce Harper hit his 20th home run of the season, marking the eighth time in his career he has reached 20 homers. Giancarlo Stanton (9), Mike Trout (8), Miguel Cabrera (8) and Albert Pujols (8) are the only other active players who have reached eight or more 20-homer campaigns by their age-28 season.

Aug. 7: Phillies 5, Mets 3 -- Ranger's ERA
Ranger Suárez has a 0.98 ERA in 46 innings this season, making him the first Phillies pitcher since earned runs became an official stat in 1912 to have a sub-1.00 ERA this late in a season (min. 45 IP). The last two Major League pitchers to accomplish this were Blake Treinen and Collin McHugh in 2018.

Aug. 6: Phillies 4, Mets 2 -- Harper's XBH streak
Bryce Harper's eighth-inning home run extended his streak of games with an extra-base hit to six, tying his career high set back in 2012. Harper has five doubles and three home runs during his streak.

Aug. 5: Phillies 7, Nationals 6 -- Harper keeps hitting
Bryce Harper clubbed his 250th career home run -- the first 184 of which came during his time with the Nats. It also marked Harper's 99th career homer at Nationals Park. The six-time All-Star continues to thrive against his former team, reaching base safely in all 15 games he's played against Washington this season. Harper has a .404/.530/.846 slash line with six home runs in those contests. He's averaging one homer every 10.8 plate appearances against the Nats, compared to one every 25.5 PAs vs. all other teams.

Aug. 4: Phillies 9, Nationals 5 -- Home away from home
The Phils rattled off their fourth consecutive win, each of which has come away from home. After defeating the Pirates on Sunday at PNC Park, they have taken each of the first three games this week at Nationals Park. It marks the first time that the club has won four straight road games since July 24-28, 2015, when they did so against the Cubs and Blue Jays.

Aug. 3: Phillies 5, Nationals 4 -- Segura wastes no time
Jean Segura once again provided some early offense, clubbing a home run on the first pitch of the game from Nationals starter Patrick Corbin. Segura began the year hitting in the bottom-half of the Phillies' order, then moved up to the No. 2 spot, before eventually being penciled into the leadoff role, where he's excelled at setting the tone. In 25 games atop the order, Segura is 9-for-23 (.391) with five extra-base hits (including three home runs) and two walks as the first batter of the game. That works out to a 1.353 OPS in those 25 plate appearances.

Aug. 2: Phillies 7, Nationals 5 -- Bohm on a roll
Alec Bohm turned in his second consecutive multihit game on the eve of his 25th birthday, including an RBI single as part of the Phillies' five-run ninth inning. After a slow start to the season, Bohm is hitting .320 with a .411 on-base percentage over his last 30 games. He has 14 walks and 24 strikeouts during that span after tallying 14 walks and 69 strikeouts in his first 66 games.

August 1: Phillies 15, Pirates 4 -- Gibson's 1,000th K
Debuting in his new uniform, right-hander Kyle Gibson notched his 1,000th career strikeout by whiffing Michael Perez on an 84.6 mph changeup at the start of the bottom of the fifth inning. Entering the game, Gibson had accumulated 997 strikeouts over the course of nine seasons with the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers.