Trea Turner and the Philadelphia Phillies have scored 25 runs in their three games against the Pittsburgh Pirates this week.
The Phillies hope to author another strong offensive performance Thursday afternoon, when the Pirates visit for the finale of a four-game set.
Philadelphia jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the series opener on Monday before Pittsburgh rallied for an 11-7 victory. The Phillies took back the momentum with an 8-0 triumph on Tuesday, then carried over their good fortunes into a 10-6 victory on Wednesday.
The Phillies got Paul Skenes to surrender a career-high eight runs (seven earned) in four innings on Wednesday, with Turner and Brandon Marsh homering against the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner. Turner has gone 2-for-5 with a homer in all three games of the series.
“I feel like the last three or four weeks have been pretty solid,” Turner said. “I know how good I am. I know how good I can be, focusing on the last three weeks and getting back to two-strike hitting and scoring runs. I feel like I’ve scored runs at a really good clip because the guys behind me are playing so well. But that’s my job, to score runs, so I feel like the last few weeks have been really good.”
Alec Bohm also homered for Philadelphia, which has won seven of its past nine games.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, received three RBIs from Jared Triolo and a homer from Henry Davis but still lost for the fourth time in six games.
“I thought our approach was awesome off (Zack Wheeler),” Pirates manager Don Kelly said of the Philadelphia starter, who struck out 10 in 4 2/3 innings but also allowed four runs on nine hits. “To go 4 2/3 and get him over 100 pitches and find a way to score — we just need to find a way to keep them down and continue to hit like that.”
The Pirates will try to bounce back behind Jared Jones (1-1, 5.76 ERA), who has yet to work more than five innings in any of his first six starts this season. He lasted 4 2/3 innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, allowing four runs (three earned) in a no-decision.
“Not in a good spot,” Jones said, assessing his season. “I have a five and a half ERA through six starts and giving up homers. Not in a good spot at all.”
Jones made one start against the Phillies two seasons ago and allowed three runs while striking out eight in 6 1/3 innings during a defeat.
He will be opposed by Alan Rangel (0-1, 4.50 ERA), who will be making the first start of his major league career. The 28-year-old has made eight relief appearances over the last two seasons, although several of those were essentially starts where the team used an opener.
Rangel gave up four runs in four innings on Saturday during a 6-2 loss to the New York Mets.
“I felt like he kind of had those guys off-balance,” interim manager Don Mattingly said of Rangel. “Even that (four-run sixth) inning … nothing really scorched or anything. So I thought he was good.”
Rangel faced the Pirates in his major league debut last year, allowing two runs in three innings.
Philadelphia is 5-1 against Pittsburgh in the season series, which ends Thursday.
–Field Level Media
