*Photo from Penn Live*
Something is starting to click for these guys. Nick Castellanos homered, Kody Clemens added one of his own, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Houston Astros with a 6-1 victory on Saturday afternoon in Houston.
The win gives the Phillies their 4th straight victory and 8th in 10 games, clinching the series for them in a World Series rematch. It was an especially meaningful day for Clemens, who homered in Houston with his father Roger in attendance, on the anniversary of his 20 strikeout game.
Clemens said of his weekend in Houston that "It's been surreal coming to Minute Maid. Obviously, I grew up coming here and watched my dad throw. It was super cool. Just a surreal moment. You don't really think about it, but it was super cool."
It was Castellanos who started the scoring for the Phillies, hitting a solo home run in the 4th inning to make it 1-0. JT Realmuto then added on with a sac fly to score Brandon Marsh, doubling the lead. In the 6th inning, Clemens doubled the lead once again, blasting a two run home run to right field to make it a 4-0 game.
Alec Bohm resumed the offense for the Phillies in the top of the 8th inning. He doubled to right field, bringing in Marsh again to make the lead 5-0. Bohm then scored on a single to center field from Jake Cave, increasing the lead to 6-0. Jeremy Pena homered in the bottom of the inning for the Astros, making the score 6-1.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after the game that "We win four series in a row and go for a sweep tomorrow. We're playing good baseball in all phases, really. We're getting good starting pitching the last few days. Our bullpen has been really, really good for a while now. And we're getting timely hits. It’s all been good."
Getting the start for the Phillies was Zack Wheeler, who pitched 6 shutout innings while striking out 7 hitters to get the win. Seranthony Dominguez pitched a scoreless 7th inning, while Andre Vasquez allowed a run in the 8th. Yunior Marte pitched the 9th inning to seal the win.
Starting the game for the Astros was Cristian Javier, who got the loss with 3 runs allowed on 7 hits in 5 2/3 innings. Phil Maton was first out of the bullpen and allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings. Seth Martinez allowed two runs in one inning, while Ronel Blanco pitched a scoreless 9th inning.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said of Javier's start that "His slider today was more inconsistent than it had been. They’ve got a bunch of left-handed hitters over there. They’ve got as many as we’ve seen. It doesn’t matter much when you don’t score a lot of runs. Our guys don’t like it; we don’t like it. We’ve just got to put that behind us, and we need this game tomorrow."
Up next, the series between the teams concludes on Sunday night. The Phillies go for the sweep with Bailey Falter starting, while Jose Urquidy starts for the Astros as they look to avoid being swept.
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