On Friday night, the Philadelphia Phillies smashed their way to a fifth-straight victory. The end result after several players had huge nights was a 17-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates and a first-place tie with the Atlanta Braves for the NL East lead. Among the heroes for the team in the away game were Andrew Knapp, Odubel Herrera, and rookie Scott Kingery.
According to ABC 6 Action News (via ESPN), both Knapp and Herrera had three-run home runs in the game. Knapp’s shot was part of a huge seven-run seventh inning which helped extend the Phillies’ lead to 14-4. Kingery achieved his first four-hit game in his young career. He reached base five times during the night.
The game was also a marathon of sorts due to all the run scoring. The official time the game was clocked at from start to finish was 4 hours, 30 minutes. In particular, the Phillies’ seventh inning saw 11 batters at the plate and a 10-run lead achieved. The length of the game tied an NL record originally set back on June 24, 2016, in a game played between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies.
Pitcher Edubray Ramos was activated from the disabled list just before the game. He ended up coming in for the fifth inning and struck out the two batters he faced. Ramos ended up with the win because of that and is now 3-0 for the season. On the losing side for the Pittsburgh Pirates was Trevor Williams (6-7). He went just over two innings and had five earned runs in his time on the mound.
After losing a total of 96 games last year, this year’s Phillies team is a much different story. They’re currently at 48-37 overall and tied with the Atlanta Braves for the NL East division lead. It’s the first time this team has been 11 games over the .500 mark since the 2011 season. Philadelphia is now 7-3 over their last 10 games including this hot five-game winning streak.
The two teams were scheduled to meet again on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. Eastern Time. Right-handed pitcher Jake Arrieta (5-6, 3.54 ERA) was set to take the mound for the Phillies, while right-hander Jameson Taillon (5-6, 4.05) was penciled in for the start for the Pirates.
