PHILADELPHIA — Rob Thomson watched Bryce Harper and JT Realmuto hit solo homers and Edmundo Sosa hit a three-run homer to lead the Philadelphia Phillies past the Texas Rangers 11-4 on Wednesday night in a game that gave them their best start in 50 games. in baseball since Seattle in 2001 and came out with a question about the Mariners.
“What did you do?” —Thomson asked.
The third-year Phillies manager asked the rhetorical question because he knew exactly the fate of those Mariners who started 38-12 and tied an MLB record with 116 wins.
The Mariners failed to win the World Series.
“That's right,” said Thomson. “So you have to keep going. You have to keep trying, keep trying until the end.”
Realmuto extended his hitting streak to 12 games and added three RBIs, and Alec Bohm had a two-RBI double in the sixth inning that made the score 10-3 and gave him an NL-best 46 RBIs. .
The Phillies, who already have the best record in baseball, are 36-14, the best 50-game start in franchise history, and are just the 26th team in National League history to win at minus 36 games in the first 50 played. The 1998 Braves were the last to get off to such a fast start.
The Phillies had never gone better than 35-15 (1993, 1976) in their first 50 games throughout franchise history dating back to 1883.
The Phillies won their fifth straight game and 17th in their last 20. They are 21-8 at home and winners of 17 of 19 at Citizens Bank Park.
“We know that whatever situation we find ourselves in, we can overcome it,” Realmuto said. “We have a chance to win every game no matter where we are. If we're down late, we have confidence in ourselves. I think that speaks to the culture we've built here.”
Matt Strahm (3-0) pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings for the win in relief.
Good times are happening in Philadelphia, although there was a hot minute during a game where temperatures hovered around 90 degrees at first pitch. Leody Taveras hit a solo home run off Phillies starter Taijuan Walker in the second and the Rangers actually took a 2-0 lead.
The opening hole was nothing more than an annoying inconvenience for this year's Phillies. They took advantage of two errors in the second inning by the World Series champions to tie the game 2-2.
Brandon Marsh's RBI single made the score 2-1. Marsh then tried to steal second, but Rangers starter Dane Dunning (3-3) turned around and threw the ball to center field, bringing home the tying run. Marsh was just starting a big night; The left fielder threw out Corey Seager at third base in the fourth inning on Adolis García's hit in the corner.
Realmuto's sixth home run of the year in the third made the score 3-2, and he hit two more in the sixth with a bases-loaded single for an 8-3 lead.
Dunning had two runners out in the fourth after throwing 74 pitches in his first start since returning from the disabled list. Dunning was sidelined with a right rotator cuff strain.
Manager Bruce Bochy hired Jonathan Hernández and the move instantly backfired. Sosa crushed one with the end of his bat and hit a three-run home run to right field on the reliever's first pitch that made the score 6-2.
Walker struck out five but allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
