Grand Father’s Day: Phillies 11, Blue Jays 4

Nick Castellanos’ grand slam highlighted a Father’s Day demolition of the Blue Jays

Earlier in the season, the Phillies had some difficulties in finishing off sweeps. But on Sunday, playing in front of a packed crowd for Father’s Day, the Phillies made certain that the Blue Jays would leave Philadelphia having not added to their win total. Zack Wheeler pitched six strong innings, Alec Bohm had three RBIs, Otto Kemp went 4-5 and Nick Castellanos hit a grand slam, to give the Phillies a 11-4 win.

Last time they faced him, the Phillies struggled against Jays starter Jose Berrios. On Sunday, they jumped on him immediately. Trea Turner led off with a double and Kyle Schwarber singled him home.

The Phillies’ bats didn’t let up after that. Alec Bohm had an RBI single in the third to make it 2-0, and Kemp singled home two more in the fourth.

The Blue Jays looked like they might make it a game when they took advantage of some shaky Phillies fielding to cut the lead to 4-2 in the fifth. But in the bottom of the inning, Alec Bohm’s home run to left re-established the two-run lead.

Home runs with runners on base have been generally hard to come by for the Phillies, but in the sixth, the Phillies used two walks and a hit to load the bases, and Nick Castellanos hit one just over the fence in left to unload them.

That was plenty of support for Wheeler who – aforementioned two-run blip in the fifth aside – was his usual dominant self. He struck out nine Blue Jays in his six innings.

The Jays got a couple of runs in the seventh against Max Lazar, and even those probably should have been prevented if right fielder Max Kepler had come up with a difficult, but makeable catch. But Kyle Schwarber used an RBI groundout in the bottom of the inning to establish the final score.

The win finished off a 5-1 homestand for the Phillies, and it’s hard to believe that a week ago, they were reeling from a sweep at the hands of the Pirates. The Phillies will now head to Miami for a four-game series. Four games against the Marlins seems like a great opportunity to add to their win total, but the Marlins are coming off a sweep of their own over the Nationals.

But that’s tomorrow’s problem. For today, I’m just glad that the Phillies gave all the fathers something to celebrate. Happy Father’s Day!