Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Lost in the debacle that was the last Taijuan Walker start on Friday in Kansas City was the fact that the Phillies actually had 11 hits and started to look a little more like the team that was crushing the league at every turn.
And while another pitching performance tried to upstage the offense again on Saturday, this time, J.T. Realmuto wasn’t going to let it happen.
Realmuto had three hits, two home runs and drove in a career-high seven runs to back the return of Ranger Suarez to the rotation and an 11-2 Phillies victory over the Royals.
Realmuto was the offensive star in a lineup chock full of them for the Phillies Saturday. They collected 18 hits, matching a season high set against San Diego in June. They had nine extra base hits.
For one night, it was as if all was right with the baseball world again.
The seven RBI for Realmuto also tied a Phillies franchise record for RBI by a catcher, matching the seven driven in by Carlos Ruiz in a 15-13 loss to Atlanta in 11 innings on May 2, 2012.
Realmuto is just the 57th catcher to ever drive in seven runs in a game (it was the 64th time, all-time) and he was the first Phillies catcher to do it in a nine-inning game.
Realmuto saw an opportunity to be aggressive, took advantage of it, and the offense never looked back.
With the score 2-1 Phillies in the sixth. A couple of breaks went their way. A popup by Nick Castellanos landed for a single when Kansas City second baseman Michael Massey and right fielder Hunter Renfroe had a hiccup in communication.
Bryson Stott followed with a tailor-made double play grounder only to have it hit off the cutout exactly right and take an insane hop over Massey’s head.
This brought Realmuto to the plate with two on and nobody out. He worked the count to 3-0 off Royals starter Brady Singer (9-9) and rather than wait for Singer to throw him a strike, Realmuto attacked a fastball in the zone and hit it a long way.
The three-run homer was the first Phillies homer with runners on base in nine days.
Realmuto told reporters after the game that he’s more aggressive in 3-0 counts when there are runners on base. If there’s nobody one, he often tries to work a walk, but with guys on base he’s looking for a specific pitch from the pitcher and trying to drive it. Singer gave it to him, and he drove it.
But he wasn’t done.
In the eighth inning, he deposited a 1-0 changeup from Chris Stratton in the Kaufmann Stadium waterfall. It was a blast of 424 feet.
He later added his seventh RBI on groundout to match the franchise record.
The first homer opened the floodgates for the Phillies offense.
Bryson Stott matched a career-high with four hits. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, who have really been struggling, combined for five hits. Nick Castellanos continued his steady climb toward a solid season with two more hits.
Maybe they were all just excited to have Suarez back.
Suarez hadn’t pitched since July 22, and even then, that was just one start after taking two weeks off.
He looked like a renewed man.
Suarez (11-5) was on a pitch count, so he only threw five innings, but they were five sharp innings. He allowed just one run on four hits and one walk while striking out six.
Having him back has to make Phillies fans feel a little better about four-fifths of the rotation as they head into the final month of the regular season and the playoffs.
ROSTER STUFF
Manager Rob Thomson said that LHP Kolby Allard was being recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday to start the series finale against Kansas City. After the game he added that Max Lazar would be optioned back to Triple-A to make room for Allard on the active roster.
Thomson wouldn’t divulge plans for Walker going forward though. The manager told reporters that the team is “working through some different scenarios” regarding Walker but wouldn’t say what those scenarios were.
The Phillies don’t have many options at this point. If they carry Walker on the roster for the next week, but don’t start him, he is taking up a bullpen spot. If they move him to the bullpen, it can only be in a mop-up role as he hasn’t shown any propensity to get out in key times in a game.
The Phillies could also designate him for assignment and gamble that no one will claim him because of the money left on his contract. They could then send him somewhere in the minors to work on his delivery and figure out what the next steps are with him after the season.
That final scenario seems to be the one that makes the most sense.
ON DECK
Allard (1-0, 3.46) will faceoff against Kansas City RHP Seth Lugo (14-7, 3.02) in the finale of this interleague series.
