Chapman, Bradley Go Deep, Blue Jays Overtake Phillies – TSN.ca

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Toronto interim manager John Schneider walked out of the clubhouse after his team scored in all but one innings and — this was almost as big as his 10 extra-base hits — left the fans inside Philadelphia Baseball Stadium “Let’s go, Blue Jay!” and simply dry: “Pitchers’ Duel”.

Not quite.

Matt Chapman hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Jackie Bradley Jr. added a three-run shot in the ninth and the Blue Jays used 21 hits to defeat the Phillies 18-11 in an opposing teams’ matchup Tuesday night Directions while playing for wild card slots.

The Blue Jays are on better form, not only winning five of seven games, but with a firm grip on the best wildcard spot in the American League. The Phillies, who suffered a three-game sweep in Atlanta over the weekend, lost their fifth straight game.

Philadelphia maintained a 2 1/2 game lead (plus tiebreaker) over the Milwaukee Brewers for the final wildcard spot in the National League. The Mets beat the Brewers 7-5.

Kyle Schwarber hit his NL-best 40th homer of the season for the Phillies in the eighth, a three-run shot that made it 14-10. He was the first Phillies slugger to turn 40 since Ryan Howard did this from 2006-2009.

JT Realmuto hit his 20th homer and went 5 for 5 for the Phillies, driving in two carries and scoring two goals.

Raimel Tapia and Danney Jansen each had three RBIs for the Blue Jays. Toronto scored in every inning except the fourth. However, Jansen smashed back-up catcher-turned-assistant Garrett Stubbs in the ninth to chants of “Stubbs! Stub! Stub!”

The Phillies have 15 games left, including five more in this final homestand of the season. Toronto has 14 more to go and just kicked off a six-game road trip.

“You’re going through breaks in the season and that’s not the best place to go in, is it?” 2021 NL MVP Bryce Harper said. “We lost but I think it’s a stepping stone to the future and hopefully offense can show, defense can show and throw too. We will need that on the track and in the postseason.”

Harper remained upbeat with his post-season talk. But with the way they played against the Blue Jays, they won’t make it — or last long if they do. the crucial errors in the middle innings, first when Harper doubled to end a rally in the fifth, and then shortstop Bryson Stott’s two-base error in the sixth that resulted in an undeserved run.

The Phillies trailed 7-1 in the fifth but broke through against the Toronto starter Ross Stripling. Dalton Guthrie made it 7-2 on a solo shot for his first big league homer. Rhys Hoskins had a run-scoring double and Harper and Realmuto added back-to-back RBI singles making it 7-5.

Blue Jays reliever Zach Pop (3-0) helped them get out of the inning when he pulled Stott to center and back on a flyout George Springer caught Harper second to end the threat.

“We just have to win again, and if we keep playing the way we’re playing, we’ll get there,” said Rob Thomson, interim Phillies manager.

Stripling gave up nine hits and five runs in more than four innings, ending a streak of 16 straight starts in which three or fewer earned runs were possible, one of which was shy of tying the franchise mark.

“It certainly wasn’t a good day to be a pitcher on either team,” Stripling said. “But we somehow showed our strength today, which is the ability to express it sometimes. We showed that correctly today.”

Kyle Gibson (10-7) couldn’t make it and was left to be batted around for seven runs and 12 hits over five innings. His troubles started early when Chapman’s 27th homer made it 3-0 on a drive into the left field seats in the first inning. The Blue Jays scored two points in the second and bet on single runs in the third and sixth to get run scoring rolling.

“They kind of knew it was one of those nights around the third or fourth inning,” Schneider said.

The Blue Jays fell short of the 29 hits and 28 runs they had against the Red Sox in July.

DOUGH UP

The Blue Jays hit five leadoff doubles and seven overall. Toscar Hernandez had four hits and set a career-high 30 doubles. Vlad Guerrero Jr. extended his hitting streak to 13 games (.316 over that span).

TRAINING ROOM

Phillies CF Brandon March left after the third inning with a bruised left knee after running into a wall to make a catch. Phillies BY Nick Castellanos could start a rehab assignment this week as part of his return from a tight incline. Castellanos has just 13 homers and 61 RBIs in the first season of a $100 million, five-year contract.

NEXT

The Phillies send RHP Zack Wheeler (11-7, 3.07 ERA) to the mound vs RHP Kevin Gausman (12-10, 3.45). Wheeler, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award runner-up, will make his first start since August 20. He missed a tendinitis in his right forearm with five starts.

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