Bryson Stott collects four hits as Phillies’ road winning streak reaches 11 with 8-4 victory over Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After his first four-hit game of the season and the second of his major-league career, Bryson Stott walked to his locker Wednesday night to find a few reporters waiting on him.

“Want to interview Arraez?” Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs cracked.

OK, so Stott isn’t Luis Arraez, the Miami Marlins’ hit machine whose flirtation with .400 is a first-half storyline in baseball. But in leading a 17-hit barrage in an 8-4 pounding of the Tampa Bay Rays for the Phillies’ 11th consecutive road victory — their longest streak in 47 years — Stott hiked his average above .300, an increasingly rare mark in the sport.

Back to that in a moment. First, let’s appreciate what the Phillies’ offense sounds like when it’s humming at full capacity.

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It’s the rat-a-tat-tat of four singles in a span of seven pitches in the second inning. It’s Trea Turner thwacking a slider off the foul pole in left field to tie the game in the fifth and Nick Castellanos banging a heater off the batter’s eye in center in the sixth. It’s J.T. Realmuto blistering a line drive to score Bryce Harper from second base, then Stott ringing a double to left-center.

And it’s stringing together four, three, and three hits in a row in the second, third, and fifth innings, respectively. It’s stinging 12 balls that came off the bat at 100 mph or hotter. It’s wiping away 2-0, 3-2, and 4-3 deficits in an eyeblink in the first three innings.

Mostly, it’s production from everywhere, up and down the lineup.

“I mean, [Alec] Bohm’s leading the team in RBIs and he’s in the seven-hole,” Stott said. “It just kind of shows how many guys we have and where you could put people. I think right now it’s as deep as it’s been, just kind of everybody finding their groove.”

Indeed, it showed the offense’s full capability. The Phillies entered with middling rankings in the National League — sixth in on-base plus slugging, seventh in hits, eighth in homers, and most galling, 11th in runs scored.

With the trade deadline now less than a month away, the biggest need would seem to be another right-handed hitter. But when the Phillies mash like this, it seems less urgent.

“I still think of us as a power lineup, but these guys can hit, too,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I think our batting average has been pretty good all year.”

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That brings us back to Stott, the No. 6 hitter in this optimal Phillies lineup.

A year ago, when the young infielder was scrambling just to get to .200, hitting coach Kevin Long said he’s “got a chance to win a batting title someday.” The Phillies have always liked the quality of Stott’s at-bats, the way he works a count and hits with two strikes.

This season, Stott is finally getting rewarded. He faced three Rays pitchers in his first four at-bats and singled to left, doubled to left-center, singled up the middle, and singled to center field. In his last 19 games, he’s 28-for-73 (.384).

Overall, Stott is batting .304, tied for fifth in the NL.

Stott credited an offseason session at his home in Las Vegas with Long, who got him to use his top (left) hand more in order to close a glaring hole in his swing.

“Last year, I would kind of swing from the bottom of the strike zone up, so anything down I was fine and anything up was not fine unless it was perfect timing, perfect spot on the bat,” Stott said. “Just trying to clean up my swing a little bit and go from there.”

Said Thomson: “He’s fouling off a lot more balls this year. He’s making people work and making them come to him. He’s barreling a lot more balls this year. He can hit. He really can.”

About that batting title: Arraez, hitting .384, probably has it locked down. But among 150 players with enough at-bats to qualify for the crown, only 11 are at .300 or better, the same total as last season. That was down from 24 in 2013 and 40 in 2003.

“It’s cool, but a lot of games left, a lot of at-bats,” Stott said. “When you start playing baseball, that’s all you’ve kind of ever heard. It feels good. The swing feels good.”

Taijuan Walker gave up two first-inning runs on Brandon Lowe’s pop-up double that fell in between Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, and Turner in left field. He allowed another run on a one-out walk and an RBI single in the second.

But his biggest difficulty was command. He walked five batters, half of his total from his last five starts combined. But he mostly overcame the wildness by getting three double-play grounders.

“Double plays are a pitcher’s best friend,” Walker said. “Any time we can get them, it helps us out and helps us get another inning in there, too.”

The Phillies haven’t lost away from home since ... checks notes ... still checking ... please hold ... June 12 in Arizona. It was so long ago that they were two games under .500. Since then, they’re 14-5 and in possession of the final National League wild-card spot.

With a victory in the series finale Thursday, they would match a 12-game road roll over two seasons in 1887-88. The franchise record is 13 consecutive road wins in 1976.