Walker Buehler stepped right into the Phillies’ winning ways Friday night.
The 31-year-old righty made a victorious debut at Citizens Bank Park as the Phils became the first MLB team to rack up 50 home wins this season with an 8-2 decision over the Royals. They’ve lost just 23 times in Philadelphia.
With their fifth straight win, the 88-60 Phillies surged closer to clinching the NL East. The Mets’ loss to the Rangers dropped the Phils’ magic number to three.
Buehler pitched five good innings, allowing five hits and one run. He walked one Royal and struck out three.
“He fits right in,” Bryce Harper said. “He fits into that mold of a Philadelphia baseball player. It’s just a lot of fun to be around somebody that’s won in his career, has obviously pitched in big situations, big moments deep into the postseason. Getting a guy like that in our clubhouse is huge for us.”
Kansas City did grab a lead in Buehler’s first inning as a Phillie. Bobby Witt Jr. singled up the middle, stole second base with two outs and scored on Maikel Garcia’s RBI knock.
The Phillies bounced back with a run against Michael Lorenzen in the second inning. Otto Kemp lined a leadoff double and eventually came home on Rafael Marchan’s sacrifice fly.
Buehler worked around a solid four-seam fastball that averaged 93.8 mph and threw strikes on 26 of his first 35 pitches. Even with that zone-attacking approach, the Royals didn’t hit many balls on the nose vs. Buehler. They had one ball in play with an exit velocity over 100 mph through four innings, which was five fewer than the Phillies.
“Most of this year and even last year, I struggled a lot with the fastball command,” Buehler said. “I’ve thrown one way my whole life since I was 10 years old and I think the last two years, coming off of (Tommy John surgery) rehab, I just haven’t thrown that way. If I can get my arm to the slot, move the way I want and all this baseball mumbo-jumbo stuff, the feel of everything kind of comes back and makes sense to my hand and my brain.
“There’s room for an uptick, hopefully. To be able to execute and make some pitches is I think a great first step.”
The Phils went on top by teeing off against Lorenzen to begin the bottom of third.
Harper laced an opposite-field two-run homer. Brandon Marsh then drove a high sinker to the same region as Harper’s dinger, raced to third base, slid in safely and pumped his fist in exultant celebration. Kemp singled to left through the Royals’ drawn-in infield.
The fourth inning was even worse for Lorenzen. Marchan, Harrison Bader and Kyle Schwarber all doubled, the Phils stretched their advantage to 6-1 and Lorenzen exited. The Phillies reached double-digit hits for the fourth game in a row.
The bullpen comfortably got the job done.
Tanner Banks, Tim Mayza, Orion Kerkering and Max Lazar combined to record the last 12 outs. Bryson Stott’s two-run long ball in the seventh inning made the Phils’ route to the finish line even a little less stressful.
The one late-inning negative for the Phillies was Edmundo Sosa’s exit in the seventh with right groin tightness, which manager Rob Thomson said he’d been dealing with “a little bit” recently.
“He’ll be day-to-day,” Thomson said. “We’ll check him out tomorrow. I just saw him favor it a little bit while he was on defense, so I checked him out. He said, ‘Yeah, it’s a little sore.’ Precautionary for now. We got him out of there.”
Bohm moving through rehab process
Thomson said pregame that Alec Bohm will “hopefully” be able to return as soon as his 10-day injured list stint ends. The Phils placed Bohm on the IL on Monday with left shoulder inflammation.
“He’s running,” Thomson said. “He’s going to do some glove work today. Hopefully, tomorrow he’ll start swinging the bat.”
Kemp started his fifth consecutive game at third base without Bohm and went 2 for 4. He’s had an excellent stretch since rejoining the Phillies, going 7 for 20 with two home runs and six RBIs.
On deck
The Phils’ Taijuan Walker (4-8, 4.03 ERA) and Kansas City’s Ryan Bergert (2-2, 3.48) will start Saturday night. Aaron Nola (4-8, 6.24 ERA) and Noah Cameron (3.00 ERA) are slated to pitch Sunday afternoon’s series finale.
Once the Royals leave town, the Phillies will embark on their final road trip of 2025, a six-gamer with series against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks.