The Philadelphia Phillies became the first team in Major League Baseball to reach 40 wins — and the calendar had yet to reach June at that point.
After that milestone win Friday, Philadelphia will look for its third win in a row Saturday when it plays the second contest of its three-game series versus the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
Former Cardinal Edmundo Sosa homered and drove in two runs and Bryce Harper added two hits in the Phillies’ 4-2 win in the series opener on Friday. Johan Rojas also had an RBI single and Brandon Marsh contributed a double and an RBI groundout.
With Trea Turner sidelined with a strained hamstring, the Phillies continue to win at a torrid pace.
“It’s been a big group effort,” Marsh said on a postgame interview on NBC Sports Philadelphia. “A lot of teams would panic. We’ve got some depth here.”
Namely Sosa, who has stepped up in a big way since Turner has been out.
“It’s hard to do what he’s doing,” Marsh said of Sosa. “He wasn’t getting much (playing time) at the beginning of the year. … That’s just a tribute to this team.”
“They’ve played hard and played well every day,” manager Rob Thomson added.
The Phillies will hand the ball to left-hander Ranger Suarez (9-1, 1.75 ERA) on Saturday.
Suarez had been undefeated this season until his last start, a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. He gave up five runs (four earned) on four walks and three hits in six innings.
“The first two innings, I didn’t have command of my changeup or my curveball,” Suarez said. “My fastball wasn’t going for strikes either. I think that was the game right there. When I finally was able to adjust, which I did, we were already five down.”
Suarez is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in one career start against St. Louis.
Brandon Crawford hit a home run and single and Nolan Arenado also went deep for the Cardinals in Friday’s loss. Crawford and Arenado accounted for all three Cardinals hits.
St. Louis went 0-for-1 with a runner in scoring position with three left on base.
Cardinals rookie Masyn Winn had his 18-game hitting streak come to an end. Winn flied out to left field as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.
Manager Oliver Marmol said he was impressed with Crawford’s performance.
“When you’re not playing every day, and you’re a guy that’s played a long time. … To do what he’s doing for this club is very difficult,” Marmol said. “A lot of respect for that.”
Right-hander Sonny Gray (7-2, 2.60) is scheduled to start for the Cardinals.
Gray was solid in his most recent start against the Chicago Cubs, as he allowed one hit with eight strikeouts and two walks in five scoreless innings in a 4-3 win on Sunday.
“With the (rain) delay, it was a long day,” Marmol said. “Sonny’s got a pretty extensive routine and throughout the day just couldn’t get his lower half loose during that game once it started. I didn’t want to push through it, so I called it for him. He did his job.”
Gray is 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA in six career starts against the Phillies.
Left fielder Brendan Donovan was scratched from Friday’s game with neck stiffness. The team said that Donovan would be listed as day-to-day and his status for Saturday’s game was unclear.
Outfielder Lars Nootbaar was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday, with a strained oblique. Infielder Jose Fermin was recalled from Triple-A Memphis.
–Field Level Media
