Credit:Peter Aiken - USA Today Sports
Bet you didn’t have Kolby Allard and Garrett Stubbs leading the Phillies to victory Sunday on your bingo card.
Yet, that’s exactly what took place in Kansas City.
Stubbs, who had never even had a three-hit game in career before Sunday, had four hits and reached base in all five of his plate appearances and Allard pitched five solid innings for the Phillies, who exploded for another monster offensive game en route to a second consecutive blowout victory, 11-3 over the Royals.
It was the first time since 2008 the Phillies posted at least 22 runs and at least 34 hits in two consecutive games.
On Sunday, the peppered Royals pitching for 16 hits a day after matching a season high with 18 hits.
Stubbs was a home run short of a cycle. He tripled in his first at bat, had a drag bunt single in his second at bat, and had an RBI double in his fourth at bat.
He tried to hit a home run in his fifth at bat but hit two long fly balls foul before lacing his fourth hit, a single, to right field.
“I’ve never been mad to get a single, but I sure as hell was trying to hit a homer,” Stubbs told reporters after the game. “(Today) was about as good as you can ever feel. Obviously, it helped us get to 11 runs which gives our pitchers some breathing room and kind of allows us to cruise toward the last few innings.”
Stubbs did have one last chance to hit a home run in the top of the ninth and was facing position player Garrett Hampson.
But a pitch got away from Hampson and plunked Stubbs in the posterior.
Stubbs said he hadn’t been on base five times in one game since Little League and felt that Hampson didn’t hit him on purpose, and likely was trying to get the ball in to give Stubbs a shot at the cycle.
“He’s a good guy,” Stubbs said. “I’ve played against him for a long time now. Both in the minor leagues and the big leagues. He’s a really good player. I know he was maybe… probably… trying to feed me (inside) to do it and he probably fed me in too much.
“Everyone was giving me crap about not getting out of the way, but I tried to get out of the way. It just didn’t end up working out.”
Stubbs was just the guy who had the most memorable game offensively, but every player in the starting lineup had at least one hit. Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, and Johan Rojas each had two.
Bryce Harper drove in a run with his 30th double of the season and Nick Castellanos hit the only home run of the game for the Phillies with a two-run bullet to left field.
All the offense came in support of Allard, who was recalled to make a spot start on Sunday but could stick around in the rotation as the Phillies are trying to decide with the No. 5 spot in the rotation right now.
It’s very unlikely that Taijuan Walker will make another start for the Phillies this season. He no longer has options left because of his major league experience, but the Phillies have a choice based on Walker’s willingness to remain a part of the organization if they make a roster move.
The Phillies can either designate Walker for assignment, meaning he would have to clear waivers before being sent to Triple-A.
Odds are, because of the two years and $36 million remaining on his contract, that he would clear waivers. The Phillies can then send him to Triple-A, but Walker can decline the option.
If he’s inclined to do that, the Phillies wouldn’t DFA him and would release him outright, as they did in July with Whit Merrifield, allowing him to catch on with Atlanta.
It’s probable that the Phillies gave Walker the choice and asked him to let them know his decision at the conclusion of the road trip.
While that will likely be a story for Monday, Allard (2-0) was happy with his performance and now sports a 3.50 ERA across five appearances for the Phillies this season.
“Me and Garrett had a pretty good game plan to go out there and get ahead of hitters and execute and I thought we did a pretty good job of that,” Allard said.
A TEACHING LESSON
In the bottom of the first inning, the Royals got two of the first three batters on base when cleanup hitter Salvador Perez hit a grounder to Alec Bohm at third.
Bohm stepped on third for one out but never threw to first where he would have easily doubled up the less-than-speedy Perez.
It turns out Bohn had forgotten the number of outs there were and had some bad body language about his miscue after the fact.
The Phillies got out of the inning, but after it was over, Phillies manager Rob Thomson met with Bohm away from the cameras down in the tunnel between the dugout and the clubhouse.
“That was a mental mistake, and it can’t happen,” Thomson said. “We fixed it. I spoke with him after that happened. I just told him those things can’t happen and you need to wake up or we’re going to do something else.”
Bohm ended up shaking off that dress down in his next at bat and delivered an RBI single. He added another RBI single in the eighth inning as well.
Thomson said he felt like Bohm was frustrated about making an out in the first inning with a runner in scoring position and that it likely carried over.
“He cares about getting hits and helping the team and he gets frustrated,” Thomson said. “You can’t. You can’t take your at bats out onto the field with you. When you are not hitting, you have to get lost in the team. You have to do whatever you can to help the team win. Whether it’s playing good defense, running the bases well, backing up bases – just get lost in the team. “
Lesson learned.
ON DECK
The Phillies start a three-game series against the Houston Astros on Monday. It’ll be the first time the Astros have been back at Citizens Bank Park since the 2022 World Series. RHP Zack Wheeler (12-6, 2.73) throws for the Phillies against RHP Ronel Blanco (9-6, 3.14) for Houston.
