Kyle Schwarber belted his 42nd home run of the season to highlight a four-run, two-out rally in the eighth as the visiting Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-1 Monday night.
With their fourth straight win, the Phillies moved 20 games above .500 for the first time this season at 69-49. Philadelphia has won the first four games of its 10-game, three-city road swing through Texas, Cincinnati and Washington.
Jordan Romano (2-4) pitched a spotless seventh to secure the win, David Robertson worked around a walk and a hit for a scoreless eighth, and Orion Kerkering pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in seven chances.
Cincinnati starter and tough-luck loser Andrew Abbott (8-3) retired the first 12 batters he faced until J.T. Realmuto opened the fifth inning with a sharp line drive to right-center for a double. But Abbott, who lost a second straight decision for the first time this season, set down the next three batters to keep the Phillies scoreless.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, acquired by the Reds at the trade deadline from Pittsburgh to significantly upgrade their defense at third, dove to his right at the third base bag and stopped a sharp grounder from Realmuto. He got up from his stomach and fired a strike to first to nab the Phillies’ catcher by a step for the first out of the second inning.
In the Philadelphia sixth, Edmundo Sosa opened with a single before Abbott retired the next three batters. And then in the seventh, Bryce Harper opened with a line-drive double down the right field line. But Realmuto was again victimized by a great defensive play, with Elly De La Cruz fielding his grounder barehanded and throwing to first for the out.
Harper moved to third and attempted to score on a fly ball to Noelvi Marte in right. The new Cincinnati right fielder fired a one-hop strike to Tyler Stephenson to nab Harper at the plate and keep Cincinnati’s lead at 1-0. Marte was the Reds’ third baseman before Hayes’ arrival.
The Phillies finally got to Abbott with two outs and no one on in the eighth. Coming into the inning at 83 pitches, the Cincinnati lefty struck out the first two batters before Sosa singled to right. Weston Wilson doubled to left to tie the game, and Trea Turner singled to left.
Reds left fielder Gavin Lux tossed the ball well past home plate, allowing Wilson to score and Turner to move to third. Two pitches later, after a pitching change, Schwarber sent a fastball from Tony Santillan 404 feet to right.
Philadelphia starter Taijuan Walker was charged with one run on six hits in six innings. He struck out two, walked one and kept the Phillies close by minimizing damage in the first to a run-scoring single from Lux and working around trouble in the third.
Lux finished 3-for-4.
Abbott wound up yielding three runs on six hits in 7 2/3 innings. He struck out six without walking a batter.
–Field Level Media
