With a new page of the calendar turned and facing an opponent that would have given them fits two months ago, the Philadelphia Phillies (79-60) continued their ascendancy in the National League playoff hunt with a 7-1 masterclass against the Arizona Diamondbacks (73-67) to push their winning streak to six games.
On a night that saw the Braves, Padres and Cubs all lose, the Phillies padded their contender’s resume behind another gem by Jesus Luzardo (13-5, 3.02) to pull within three games of the division
lead and extend their wild card inclusion to six games.
They hopped on Diamondback’s starter, Eduardo Rodriguez, early with a leadoff walk by Kyle Schwarber and an RBI double by Trea Turner. Bryce Harper reached on a cheeky bunt single to put two on for Luis Arraez who grounded into a run-scoring double play to gift Luzardo with a two-run handicap.
Luzardo allowed a solo shot to Jordan Lawlar in the bottom of the fifth but otherwise worked around the few threats posed by Arizona, stranding six runners to go along with six punch outs in 6.2 innings of work.
Alec Bohm singled home Harper in the fifth for a 3-0 lead and the Phillies tacked on three more against Gerardo Carillo in the eighth via a Bryson Stott walk, Justin Crawford pinch hit, Schwarber sacrifice fly and another Harper hit. Bohm led off the top of the ninth with a double and came home on a Stott sac fly to finish the scoring.
Luzardo left with a two-man jam that Jonathan Bowlan cleaned up en route to 1.1 spotless innings and Chase Shugart retired the side in the bottom of the ninth in order to seal the win.
Harper extended his career-best on base streak to 34 games. It was the eighth time in Harper’s career he’s reached base safely five or more times in a game and first since September 3, 2023.
The Phils will look to cap off their successful road trip with a second consecutive sweep tomorrow afternoon as Andrew Painter is slated to face Arizona’s TBD.
