Phillies finish three-game sweep of White Sox with victory on Sunday But Sadly White Sox Decide
Trea Turner stole home, Kyle Schwarber hit a solo shot and Aaron Nola struck out seven in eight innings to help the Philadelphia Phillies complete a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox with an 8-2 win on Sunday.
Bryce Harper added a sacrifice fly and an RBI single on his best friend the Phillie Phanatic’s birthday to complete an 8-2 homestand for the Phillies. After splitting a four-game series with Pittsburgh, the Phillies fattened their record with series sweeps of Colorado and the White Sox.
“We played really well the entire time,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We got great pitching, starting pitching. Really good at-bats. Played exceptional defense today. I just thought we were really good.”
Beating the White Sox was pretty much a given on a windy, chilly day in Philly.
The big question — how long would it take for the White Sox to get a hit?
Spencer Turnbull carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and Zack Wheeler took one into the eighth in consecutive starts to open the series. The Phillies rotation entered the game having gone 31 1/3 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run, their longest streak since 1969.
There was no real no-no bid in this one. Nola (3-1) allowed a one-out single to the second batter of the game and Eloy Jiménez followed with a two-run homer for the quick lead.
That was it for the White Sox. Chicago extended its franchise-worst start to 3-18 and have lost nine of its last 10 games.
“We’ve got to play perfect baseball,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “We’ve got to win with pitching and defense until the hitting gets going. If we’re not doing that, we’re going to struggle.”
Nola walked only one and threw 91 pitches.
“It’s nice when we’re able to put up some runs and let the starters kind of get settled in and keep going deep in games for us,” Schwarber said.
The Phillies swiped a page out of your local Little League game and used a baserunning razzle-dazzle to score three times in the first off Nick Nastrini (0-2).
Harper was on first following his run-scoring single that made it 2-1 and Turner was on third. Harper took off an attempted steal of second base but pulled up just shy of the bag. Second baseman Lenyn Sosa ran Harper almost all the way back to first base until he spotted Turner scampering toward the plate and made an off-target side-armed throw home. Turner was safe.
Brandon Marsh made it 3-2 with an RBI single.
The Phillies scored three more in the fourth and Schwarber connected for his sixth homer of the year in the sixth.
