The 1.5 game NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies (29-18) continued their dominance over the Colorado Rockies (8-39) with a 7-4 win on Tuesday night to reach 5-0 thus far against the NL West’s punching bag.
Jesus Luzardo’s blazing start to the season would not be quenched by the usually pitcher-unfriendly confines of Coors Field as the southpaw put in 6.0 innings of one-run ball with 10—count ‘em—10 strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 1.95, second best in the National League.
They got it going early against Antonio Senzatela with three runs off of four hits and a sac fly in the first inning, accentuated by a two-RBI double by Bryce Harper.
The Rockies got their lone run off Luzardo in the bottom of the fourth with a walk and steal by Brenton Doyle and an RBI single by Tyler Freeman.
Phils’ would get the run right back in the next frame via a Kyle Schwarber walk and a Max Kepler double.
A night after reaching the 300 home run plateau, Schwarber began his ascent to the next milestone with another solo shot in the seventh inning to extend the lead to four.
Singles by Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh together with a walk by Max Kepler would score two more to pad the lead before the inning was through.
Jose Ruiz gave up three hits in the bottom of the inning that led to another run for the hosts.
Recently promoted Max Lazar took the eighth and ninth innings and got into some hot water in the final frame, giving up another three hits and two runs, but closed things out without having to burn another high leverage arm.
Harper, Marsh and Bryson Stott each collected three hits, and Kepler, Bohm and Trea Turner each had a pair as part of the team’s 17 on the night. Rumors are Stott can also play defense when necessary.
Taijuan Walker takes on lefty Carson Palmquist tomorrow night in game three of the four game stint in Denver.