After a two-game skid, the Phils are back on top with a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Thanks to another quality start from left-hander Christopher Sanchez, a red-hot Nick Castellanos, and some other great team at-bats bringing some hitters back to life. It’s never fun losing to a rival, and when the Phillies dropped two of three to their rivals, the Atlanta Braves, their last game of the series ending at 12:53 am due to a 2-hour and 45-minute rain delay, they needed a pick-me-up or a good readjustment. In their first game in St. Louis, Manager Rob Thompson saw that and made a change to try and reignite this offense. Moving Stott up to lead off, where he seemed to get his groove back, followed by Trea, Bryce hitting third, Schwarber cleaning up, and an extremely impressive Nick Castellanos batting after him, the first five hitters of the Phillies lineup are dangerous.

Offensively, the Player of the Game has to be the man responsible for the two insurance runs that kept today’s game just out of St. Louis’ reach, Nick Castellanos. This was his third three-hit game of the season with 2 RBIs, with two of his three hits being doubles. When he stepped into the box for the first time, he quickly fell 0-2, as he usually does. Then the third pitch from a struggling Miles Mikolas, with Bryce on second after a single to center, and Schwarber on first after drawing a nine-pitch walk, Castellanos found his pitch, a four-seamer up in the zone, and doubled to left center, scoring both Harper and Schwarber, giving Sanchez, the defensive player of the game, the room to throw another quality start with six and a third innings where he struck out three, walked two, and left with one earned run on a one-out single from Wilson Contreras in the bottom of the fifth.

As Tom McCarthy mentioned, however, at the end of the broadcast, “It was a great team effort” in today’s win, and it simply couldn’t be more true. In the latter half of the game, the runs in the fifth and seventh were thanks to a collection of Phils. In the fifth, Brandon Marsh worked a walk on four pitches from Mikolas, and with the lineup turning over, Bryson Stott stepped in and started getting back in the swing of things, collecting an RBI with a double in the right corner. Then, in the seventh, Alec Bohm found a break in his struggles with an infield single to Cardinals shortstop Thomas Saggese. After a 1-2 count, Bohm reached safely on four pitches after a 1-12 skid in his last three games. Followed by his bestie, Brandon Marsh, who sacrificed himself so Bohm, who is not known for his speed, could advance to second safely, followed by the last member of the young trio, Bryson Stott, coming back to the plate for his fifth plate appearance on the day to the plate. He flew out to center, allowing Bohm to advance again over to third, with Turner due up. Trea then singled to left, allowing Bohm to score, putting the Phillies up 4-1; the end was in sight. Relievers Kerkering, Romano, and Alvarado held it down and secured the Phillies win.

The series is now tied 1-1 with the finale set for tomorrow afternoon at 2:15. Phillies Ace, Zack Wheeler, will take the mound against Matthew Liberatore in hopes of securing another series win. The Phillies are currently in second place and half a game behind the New York Mets, who lost today to the Athletics, 1-3. With tomorrow’s win, the Phillies could very well take first place back from their rivals, and their fourth series win of the season before they head home for a four-game set against San Francisco.