PHILADELPHIA—Bryce Harper launched a three-run home run, Alec Bohm extended his hitting streak to 18 games, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the San Francisco Giants 5–4 on Sunday night for their fifth straight victory.
J.T. Realmuto added three hits for the surging Phillies, who have won nine of their past 10 games and 16 of 19. They own the best record in the major leagues at 24–11, which marks their best 35-game start since 1995.
Philadelphia’s nine-game home winning streak matches the longest in the majors this year. The club has also won 10 in a row against National League West opponents, tying a franchise record.
“The awareness of the last couple years, where we didn’t get hot until June, that sort of motivates people, and our guys have done a really good job,” Phillies Manager Rob Thomson said.
Thairo Estrada hit a two-run homer and Michael Conforto doubled and tripled for the Giants, who have lost three straight games and five of their past six.
Harper drove a 1–1 changeup from San Francisco ace Logan Webb (3–3) into the Phillies’ bullpen in the third inning for his seventh homer of the season. The two-time National League most valuable player has homered in five games this year, and Philadelphia has won all five.
“As an offense, I think we had a pretty good plan against Webb,” Harper said. “Our starting pitching has been really, really good, so anytime we can go out there and get some runs up on the board for them, we have a really good chance to win.”
Bohm kept his hitting streak alive in his final at-bat, ripping a double off reliever Taylor Rogers down the left-field line. It’s the longest run in the majors this season.
Taijuan Walker (2–0) allowed three runs and five hits over 6 1/3 innings in his second start of the season. He struck out seven and walked one.
“I feel like my location was really [good] today,” Walker said. “All of my pitches—my splitter was better today than the last start. It was nice, and it makes it so much easier when the offense is putting up runs early like that.”
Jose Alvarado earned his seventh save despite allowing a solo homer to Jackson Reetz in the ninth. It was the first big-league homer for Reetz, recalled from Triple-A Sacramento, Calif., earlier in the day following injuries suffered by San Francisco catchers Patrick Bailey and Tom Murphy the previous two days.
Edmundo Sosa and Bryson Stott also had RBI hits for Philadelphia.
The Phillies won despite striking out 17 times. It’s the second time in the past four games they have managed to win despite striking out that many times. They whiffed 18 times in a road win against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Webb lasted just four innings. He allowed five runs, four earned, and six hits.
