CINCINNATI — In 44 minutes Sunday, before the end of another series that didn’t go as planned, the Phillies doing nothing in a rain delay. How appropriate. Because extra time to stew over the previous day’s 13-run embarrassment never hurt anyone.
Then, they show what catharsis looks like.
When the rain stopped and the tarp came off the field, it took the Phillies 12 minutes to get a shower. In all, they sent 13 batters to the plate in the first inning, ambushed Reds starter Luis Cessa for nine runs — on just 37 total pitches — and won a 14-3 knee-slapper in their exit at Cincinnati.
“It was definitely needed,” said Aaron Nola, the biggest beneficiary of the offensive outburst. “It’s a long season. Obviously we didn’t start the way we wanted, but this is a talented group here. We know that. We just keep playing our ball, things will start going our way.”
The Phillies had their biggest inning in four years — to date, in fact — since a 10-run first inning on April 16, 2019 against the Mets. It started with Bryson Stott’s leadoff homer, continued with Jake Cave’s three-run double that opened a 5-0 lead, and didn’t stop until Kyle Schwarber doubled off Trea Turner, who reached on a pair of singles and scored twice in the inning.
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In the third inning, every Phillies starter had at least one hit; in the seventh, they all had at least one RBI. They finished with a season-high 23 hits, four fewer than their combined total from the first three games of the series.
Brandon Marsh had four hits. Stott, Turner, JT Realmuto, and Alec Bohm each had three hits. Turner reached base five times. The Phillies were 11-for-27 with runners in scoring position — and somehow, they still left 15 men on base.
“Like we say, the lineup we have, it’s only a matter of time before one of these games happens,” said Stott, who extended his hitting streak to 16 games, tying Willie “Puddin ‘ Head” Jones in 1950 for the franchise’s longest hitting streak to open a season. “It’s really fun.”
Stott has been the best player in the Phillies’ disappointing 6-10 start. Far. He is 27-for-71 (.380) with a .389 on-base percentage. Leave it to the second-year second baseman, then, to jump on Cessa’s second pitch of the game and send it into the front row in right field.
“He’s always on base, you know?” said manager Rob Thomson. “That’s the key. Trea is now on base five times. Those two guys ride, you have [Kyle] Schwarber, [Nick] Castellanos, Marsh, JT hit behind them, you have a good chance to score a lot of runs.”
Just don’t mention Stott’s hitting streak — or ask the superstitious leadoff man what he knows about Puddin’ Head Jones.
“Nothing,” he said with a laugh.
Even though the Whiz Kids third baseman hit 16 straight games to start 1950?
“We’ll just put that to the side,” Stott said, laughing again.
Enough. But after Stott’s homer, the next three batters reached base, with Marsh dunking a broken-bat single into right field to open a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, Bohm scorched a line drive to third base that drove in another run.
Once Cave lined a double the other way to the base of the wall in left field, the route was open.
“It’s contagious,” Marsh said. “Just passing the baton. Not trying to do too much. Just one them to death, draw your walks, and if you get something at the plate, do some damage with it. It was so much fun now.”
Nola settled down
If the rain delay wasn’t enough, Nola had to sit out the long top of the first inning. No longer will he complain about being gifted a nine-run lead before throwing a pitch.
“I was a little loose at first, but then we scored nine runs so I was just walking around, arm moving, stretching out a little bit,” Nola said. “You have to step back and treat it like a zero-zero game.”
Nola is not the closest to him. He walked three batters and allowed five hits in six innings. But he also had an easy 10-pitch first inning and knew the Reds weren’t going to get back into the game, unlike opening day in Texas when he couldn’t hold a 5-0 lead against the Rangers.
“It’s hard for pitchers sometimes in that type of game because they’re sitting the whole time while we’re hitting,” Thomson said. “But he answered well.”
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Marsh takes center stage
It’s rare for an outfielder to actually steal a hit on a sacrifice fly, but Marsh did just that in the fourth inning.
With runners on second and third, Kevin Newman smacked a liner to center field that was ticketed and hit Marsh in the head after he got on the ball. But Marsh changed direction, stepped back, and raised his arm to catch.
Even with the first misstep, Marsh made a good play. Newman’s drive carried a .580 projected batting average, according to Statcast.
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