Ranger Suarez scattered four singles over seven innings and Kyle Schwarber hit a three-run homer to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to an 8-0 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night.
Suarez (5-1) walked one and struck out six while matching his longest outing of the season. It was the seventh consecutive quality start for Suarez, who has allowed just six earned runs over 46 2/3 innings in his last seven starts for an ERA of 1.16.
J.T. Realmuto went 2-for-3 with a double, three runs and an RBI and Otto Kemp had a double, two hits and an RBI for Philadelphia, which won for the third time in four games.
Toronto starter Kevin Gausman (5-5) suffered the loss, allowing four runs on four hits over five innings. He walked four and struck out seven while throwing 95 pitches, just 56 for strikes. Alejandro Kirk had two hits for the Blue Jays, who had a three-game win streak snapped.
Philadelphia took a 4-0 lead in the second. Realmuto led off with a walk, advanced to third on a double by Kemp and scored on a double off the bottom of the wall in right-center by Brandon Marsh. Kemp also tried to score on the play but was thrown out at the plate on a relay from center fielder Myles Straw to second baseman Andres Gimenez to Kirk.
Trea Turner followed with a walk, setting the stage for Schwarber’s 22nd home run, a 410-foot, three-run blast to dead center.
The Phillies extended the lead to 5-0 in the sixth on consecutive singles by Realmuto, Bryson Stott and Kemp, who picked up the first RBI of his major league career, then broke the game open with three more runs in the eighth highlighted by an RBI double by Realmuto, a sacrifice fly by Marsh and an RBI single by Trea Turner.
–Field Level Media
