Phillies hit sweet 60 milestone against the Nationals with 13-1 win

The Phillies won their 60th game of the season Sunday at Citizens Bank Park, and their fifth game in a row, and they did it with ease. In a 13-1 win over the Washington Nationals that completed a four-game sweep, the Phillies allowed only seven hits.

The Phillies are now 60-48. Of their 54 remaining games, 35 are against teams with records below .500. They climbed into a tie with the San Diego Padres far the second NL wild card spot, pending the Padres-Dodgers result Sunday night..

When he first became interim manager, Rob Thomson said he’d like to get the 22-29 Phillies to .500. He said he’d then want to get them to five games above .500, and then 10. Now, the Phillies are 12 games above .500, and now his sights are set on 15.

“Who knows [how much higher this team can get]?” Thomson said. “I mean, really. We’re playing good baseball. We really are. And we’re getting good pitches, really played good defense the entire four games of this series, and we’re swinging the bats right now. It’s been a complete effort. And as long as we’re doing that, we’re going to win a lot of games.”

Starter Aaron Nola tossed another strong game on Sunday afternoon, holding the Nationals to five hits, one run and two walks with five strikeouts over six innings. Nola threw 91 pitches, 58 of them strikes.

“I felt OK,” he said. “I felt a little off. I felt like I was getting behind in the count a good bit. Not super crisp. But I held them at one run, and there were some good plays behind me, too, which helped out a lot.”

Connor Brogdon followed with a hitless seventh inning. Seranthony Domínguez allowed just one hit in the eighth inning, and David Robertson finished it off with a scoreless ninth despite allowing a walk and a single.

It was a great afternoon for the Phillies’ day care. Darick Hall hit two solo home runs, Alec Bohm walked in a run in the third inning, and Nick Maton hit a two-run home run in the fourth. Maton hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to give the Phillies an 8-1 lead. Rookie infielder Bryson Stott piled on the damage in the bottom of the eighth with three-run double. Maton, who finished his day with four RBIs, also had a sacrifice fly to score Brandon Marsh.

Of the 13 runs the Phillies scored on Sunday, 10 of them were driven in by players who have played in three MLB seasons or fewer.

“It’s cool to see Maton come in right away and contribute,” Hoskins said of the second baseman who was recalled from the minors last week players. “Stotter has been hitting the ball hard for a long time, and hasn’t had a ton to his name for it, but it was nice to see him put a couple of balls in the gap. It was really up and down the whole lineup. And it makes us scary, it really does make us scary. Not only are those guys driving the ball in the gap, but they’re getting on base, and setting the table for the rest of the lineup up top. So it’s good to see.”

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Hoskins, who was penciled in at DH on Sunday, hit his 24th home run, the fourth straight game in which he went deep. Hoskins is hitting .309/.377/.600 over his last 15 games.

Hoskins was hit by a pitch in the sixth and was replaced by Edmundo Sosa in the eighth inning. He said the pitch hit him in the right forearm and biceps, but it got a “lot of meat, thank goodness.” He said he’ll be sore, but thinks he’ll be OK.

When Marsh was acquired at the trade deadline last week, the Phillies said they saw upside in his bat. Marsh was hitting .226/.284/.353 at the time. Since coming to Philadelphia, he is hitting .300/.364/.300 over four games (and 10 at-bats) including two singles he hit Sunday (one of which left his bat at 105.3 mph).

It’s a small sample size, but Marsh said that since he’s started working with hitting coach Kevin Long, he’s felt an “immediate difference” in his timing at the plate. Marsh said that Long approached him the first day he arrived in Philadelphia, and that the two have been working on his timing every day since.

“It’s literally just get the foot down, and just let your body work,” Marsh said. “Let the rest take care of itself. Just make sure you’re in a decent position and on time, and you’ll always have a chance.

“I just had a lot more moving parts [before]. Leg kick, toe tap, hands doing a couple of things. I wasn’t on time for anything, but when I was on time, it was great. But a lot of the times I wasn’t. So, just keeping it simple, getting the foot down, trying to get on first base and let the big boppers hit us in.”