Streetlights, big dreams, all looking pretty: Phillies 9, Yankees 4

The Phillies put on another offensive show in the Bronx

Not content with knocking around the Yankees’ pitching staff on Friday night, the Phillies’ offense was once again dominant on Saturday afternoon. Combined with a strong rebound start from Ranger Suarez, the Phillies earned their second straight victory in the Bronx, this time by a score of 9-4.

Trea Turner got things started with a ground rule double to open the game. With two outs, J.T. Realmuto singled him home to give the visitors a quick 1-0 lead.

Suarez had a rough start against the Angels on Sunday, and he looked a bit shaky in the first inning, allowing two runners to get on. But he struck out Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm to end the threat, and he settled in after that.

Yankees starter Marcus Stroman appeared to settle in a bit too…right until he faced Bryce Harper in the third. You could just see how badly he wanted to hit one out of this park, and he finally got it done.

Stroman’s control abandoned him in the fourth. A walk to Brandon Marsh, single by Max Kepler, and walk to Bryson Stott loaded the bases by Johan Rojas. Despite getting a very generous strike call on one pitch, Stroman walked Rojas to force a run home and make it 3-0.

A Trea Turner fielder’s choice made it 4-0, and another walk ended Stroman’s afternoon. Sadly, Harper looked a little overanxious against reliever Yerry De Los Santos and grounded out to leave them loaded.

The Yankees finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Three singles, the third by Jasson Dominguez made the score 4-1.

Turner – 6-11 in the series so far – got that run back in the sixth when his second double of that game scored Bryson Stott to re-establish a four-run margin.

Suarez got into some trouble in the sixth, giving up two singles. With two outs, he was relieved by Max Lazar who retired Dominguez to end the threat.

The Phillies blew it open in the seventh. Edmundo Sosa – who was later involved in an ugly collision with Brandon Marsh on a pop up – hit a two-run home run to make it 7-1, and then Kyle Schwarber (5-10 with six RBIs in the series) added a two-run double to push the lead to 9-1.

The Yankees prettied up the score a little on a solo home run by Giancarlo Stanton in the seventh, and then reliever Alan Rangel’s poor control allowed them to get another in the eighth. Rangel committed one of the cardinal sins of baseball: When pitching with a big league, just throw strikes! Make them earn the comeback by swinging the bats. Instead, he walked three batters and let one score via a balk. That’s a great way for a fringe roster player to get demoted.

Fortunately, Seth Johnson didn’t have similar problems and pitched around a single to close things out in the ninth.

Based on how they’ve looked the past two days, the Phillies probably wish they could stay in Yankee Stadium forever, but the series will wrap up on Sunday afternoon. It won’t get much easier for the Yankees with Zack Wheeler scheduled to start, but the way the Phillies are hitting, I’m not sure it matters who is pitching for them.