Rhys Hoskins homers again, but Phillies get crushed by Cubs

Rhys Hoskins spent roughly 12 minutes in the batter's box on Saturday night, captivating the Citizens Bank Park crowd with each at-bat. The remaining 2 hours, 51 minutes of an 17-2 loss to the Cubs were excruciating.

Saturday brought another night of Hoskinsmania, as the rookie struck in the first inning with a two-run homer off Kyle Hendricks. Hoskins somehow golfed a low change-up and powered it for his 10th homer in just 57 major-league at-bats, becoming the quickest player to hit 10 career homers.

Hoskins is the first since Yogi Berra in 1947 to reach 10 career homers and walks with 12 or fewer strikeouts. Each homer is met with a new factoid — such as Hoskins passing Pinky Whitney's August record for RBIs by a Phillies rookie — that details how ridiculous this stretch has been. His arrival has been historic.

But perhaps the slugger's biggest feat has been his ability to cultivate actual interest at the end of an otherwise forgettable season. He traded tweets on Friday night with Carson Wentz. Maybe Joel Embiid noticed what Hoskins did on Saturday as Hoskins homered for the seventh-straight game day. Each trip to the plate has proved to be a must-watch event.

"Not a whole lot. It's kind of just a pure bliss," Hoskins said when asked what he's thinking about after he hits each homer. "When you're running, you don't really hear anything. You can't see anything except the ground and the bases. It's something I've never felt. Let's hope we can repeat it."

"I'm going to start getting made at him if he doesn't hit a home run every game," manager Pete Mackanin cracked. "…He's special. He just gives you good at-bats. He takes what they give them, doesn't try to do too much and has a good idea."

The energy from that first-inning homer did not last long as the Cubs responded by bashing four homers off Ben Lively. The righthander allowed six runs in five innings. The Phillies failed to score again and just one runner reached second base. Another loss — the 81st of the season — was brewing.

Tommy La Stella and Anthony Rizzo both homered twice. Rizzo went back-to-back in the fifth with Kris Bryant. Lively would face just one more batter. The Phillies will be hindered during the rest of the season by their scuffling starters. Not even Hoskins can mask that.

Drew Anderson and Jesen Therrien combined to allow seven runs in the seventh as five Cubs players drove in runs. Another game was out of hand. But it was not yet unwatchable as Hoskins was to lead off the bottom of the inning. He lined a single to right. It wasn't a homer, but it did mark his sixth multi-hit game since being promoted August 1.

The homer against Hendricks came with two strikes, a position where Hoskins seems to feel strangely comfortable. He is batting .262 with an 1.045 OPS this season in 48 at-bats with two-strikes. Hoskins is batting .333 with a 1.381 OPS when the pitcher is ahead in the count, proving what should be a pitcher's advantage is hardly that. His plate discipline has proved to be the source of his power and six of his homers have come with two strikes. He fails to crack under pressure.

"A lot of it has to do with the preparation. Knowing what certain guys like to do once we get to two strikes," Hoskins said. "A lot of it is being comfortable with hitting with two strikes. Being OK and not letting yourself get out of whatever your approach is or swing at pitches that are out of the zone."

"I would say the majority of hitters don't like to get to two strikes. They might be a little overly agressive earlier so they don't get to two strikes," Mackanin said. "But he's not afraid to go to two strikes. He made an educated guess on that home run. That was a good pitch. He just knew what he was looking for and he stayed on it."

The Cubs blitzed the Phillies for four more runs in the ninth as they rocked rookie righthander Yacksel Rios. Ben Zobrist mashed a homer to right to give the Cubs their 17th run, the most scored by a visiting team in Citizens Bank Park history and the most by a visiting team in Philadelphia since Cincinnati scored 22 in 1999.

The game was ugly. But unwatchable? Nope. Hoskins was batting second. He skied the first pitch into into shallow center field and jogged back to the dugout. The Phillies trailed by 15 runs. Hoskins' night was over. There was finally no reason to watch.