*Photo from the Philadelphia Inquirer*
Call them the new road warriors. Brandon Marsh drove in two runs, Nick Castellanos homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays with a 8-4 victory on Wednesday night in St. Petersburg.
The Phillies have now won the first two games of the series against the Rays and are 7-3 in their last 10. On the road, the Phillies have now won 11 games in a row, good for the 3rd longest road winning streak in team history, behind a 12 game streak from 1887 to 1888 and a 13 game streak in 1976.
Brandon Lowe gave the Rays a 2-0 lead early, hitting a two run double in the first that scored Randy Arozarena and Yandy Diaz. In the top of the second, the Phillies tied it 2-2 on RBI singles from Alec Bohm and Darick Hall. Francisco Mejia then made it 3-2 Rays on an RBI single. In the 3rd, an RBI single from JT Realmuto tied it 3-3 before Luke Raley put the Rays ahead 4-3 on a solo home run.
The Phillies tied it in the 5th inning thanks to a solo home run from Trea Turner. Bryson Stott then singled home Realmuto to make it 5-4 in favor of the Phillies. In the 6th inning, Castellanos hit a solo home run to make the lead 6-4. Marsh then singled home Bohm and Stott in the 7th to make it 8-4 Phillies, which went final.
After the game, Turner said of the offense's performance that "Every inning, you’ve got guys on base, putting pressure on. There’s never an easy out, and I think today, that’s what allowed us to win this game. We just kept grinding them out, one through nine."
Getting the start for the Phillies was Taijuan Walker, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits and 5 walks in 7 innings, striking out 8 hitters. Gregory Soto came on and pitched a scoreless 8th, with Jeff Hoffman doing the same in the 9th to seal the victory.
Walker said of his start that "It really could have been a lot worse. Five walks, something I don’t want to do, especially against a team like that can score at will. Towards the end of the game I was able to put those shutdown innings up."
Zack Littell allowed two runs in two innings while serving as an opener for the Rays. Yonny Chirinos allowed 3 runs on 8 hits in 2 2/3 innings, getting tagged with the loss. Jake Diekman and Robert Stephenson each got two outs, with Luis Patino and Colin Poche also pitching.
Rays infielder Taylor Walls said after the game that "Everybody in here knows we're not playing our best ball, but we know that comes with a season that's 162. We'll get back to it. But luckily, it's happening now so we can clean some of those things up, find some of the weaknesses that we have now and get better at them, so later on down the road, we're a lot stronger."
Up next, the series wraps up on Thursday night. The Phillies give the start to Cristopher Sanchez as they go for the sweep, while the Rays try to salvage a game with Shawn Armstrong starting.
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