With the regular season winding down, the Philadelphia Phillies could use even more hot hitting from Trea Turner.
Philadelphia hopes for another big effort from Turner on Thursday afternoon when the Houston Astros visit for the decisive contest of a three-game series.
Turner had two hits, including a home run, in a 6-5 loss to Houston on Tuesday. He went deep again Wednesday as part of a two-hit night that helped the Phillies earn an 11-7 victory over the Astros.
“We’ve seen the games that Trea gets going,” Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s like a different dynamic with our offense because of the speed and power too and just getting on base.”
Turner, who has a six-game hitting streak, hardly was the only offensive star for the Phillies on Wednesday. Luis Arraez and Bryan De La Cruz each had two hits, while Bryce Harper drove in two runs and Kyle Schwarber delivered the big blow with a sixth-inning grand slam — his MLB-leading 44th home run this season.
“We just need to keep doing that and keep playing good baseball,” Turner said.
The Phillies (82-64) are three games behind the first-place Braves in the National League East. The teams will meet this weekend for a three-game set in Atlanta.
The first-place Astros (74-72) sit two games ahead of the Texas Rangers in the American League West. Houston’s Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith homered Wednesday, while Jose Altuve recorded his 2,500th career hit.
“It was a great moment,” Altuve said. “I’m really sad we lost the game, but you know, we come back tomorrow and (try to) get a win.”
Philadelphia will look to continue its momentum behind right-hander Zack Wheeler (12-5, 3.23 ERA), who has made three career regular-season starts against the Astros, going 1-1 with a 1.00 ERA. He also faced them twice in the 2022 World Series, taking the loss in Game 2 and again in Game 6.
Since giving up eight runs against the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 24, Wheeler has allowed one run over six innings in each of his last two outings.
“That’s the Wheeler that we all know,” Schwarber said after Wheeler’s quality outing against the Braves on Saturday. “Every time he takes that rock, you feel like you’re going to get a performance like that.”
Wheeler gave up one run and three hits over six innings in a 4-2 victory.
Houston on Thursday will start right-hander Cristian Javier (2-5, 5.98 ERA), who is coming off one of his best starts of the season. He gave up one hit — a solo homer — over five innings in a 3-1 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.
“I really think he’s getting to that point,” Astros manager Joe Espada said, “where you can see that version of him that we’ve seen in the past with Javy.”
Javier gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings against the Phillies in his only regular-season start against them, in 2023. He also started against Philadelphia in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series and pitched the first six innings of a combined no-hitter. The Astros won 5-0.
–Field Level Media
