Trea Turner a triple shy of a cycle as Phillies take series with 5-2 victory over White Sox

CHICAGO — The Phillies haven’t had a player hit for the cycle since June 28, 2004, when third baseman David Bell did it at Citizens Bank Park. Behind Bell’s six RBIs that night, the Phillies posted a 14-6 win over the Montreal Expos, a franchise that became the Washington Nationals after that season. And Bell is now managing the Cincinnati Reds. It’s been awhile.

The Phillies’ cycle drought came close to ending Monday in their 5-2 win over the host White Sox. After going 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series Tuesday, Trea Turner went 3-for-5 with a single, double, a home run, and two RBIs. His three hits all came in the first four innings. Needing a triple to complete the cycle, he lined out to center and struck out in his last two at-bats.

The home run in the first inning off White Sox right-hander Mike Clevinger was his first as a Phillie.

“Yeah, I tied Bryson [Stott] in the one [home run] column,” Turner said. “It felt good. It’s been a minute, but you want to drive the baseball and today we got back to that.”

The Phillies bounced back from a one-hit performance in a 3-0 loss in Game 2 of a doubleheader on Tuesday with nine hits Wednesday. They won two of three games in the series and headed home to play the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night with an 8-11 record.

“It’s huge,” manager Rob Thomson said. “We win another series and that’s what we’re looking to do. Just keep winning series. We win the road trip, go 4-3 on the road trip [after going 2-2 in Cincinnati]. We get go home for some home cooking, to see our fans, get some energy, and look to win another series.”

Brandon Marsh went 2-for-4, with a single and an opposite-field home run to tie the game 2-2 in the second inning. It was Marsh’s third home run of the season. He’s now batting .370 with a .759 slugging percentage and a 1.156 OPS — both of which are the second-best in baseball.

Marsh, who batted .254 and .245 in his first two major league seasons, said this is the best he’s felt offensively in a long time.

“I felt pretty good in high school,” he said with a laugh. “High school was good. But no, I like where we’re at. Just got to keep taking it day by day. Enjoying the process and riding the highs and lows.”

Like Bailey Falter on Tuesday, Taijuan Walker gave the Phillies length on Wednesday with 6⅓ innings. After allowing a two-run homer to Andrew Vaughn in the first inning, Walker gave up just three singles and two walks the rest of the way 5⅓ innings.

Walker said in spring training that he’d like to give the Phillies 180 innings this year. To do that, he’s been trying to be more efficient, mainly in how he uses certain pitches in spots. He showed glimpses of that efficiency on Wednesday.

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Walker decided to throw his sinker more in his start because he noticed Zack Wheeler’s two-seamer played well to the White Sox’s righties in Game 1. He stuck to that game plan because the White Sox didn’t adjust as the game went on. Those types of decisions led to some quick innings. Walker needed just nine pitches to get through the sixth inning, and seven to get through the fifth.

“Especially with a team like this, they’re aggressive,” he said of the White Sox. “They like to swing early, so that’s why we kind of stayed in the zone for the most part. Threw a two-seam and just really wanted to put the ball in play early, and they did.”

Thomson said left-hander Cristopher Sánchez will start for the Phillies at home against Colorado on Saturday. Sánchez (left triceps strain) has looked good in his rehab assignment at triple-A Lehigh Valley. He’s allowed just one earned run through 8⅔ innings, with three walks and 11 strikeouts.