Nick Castellanos homered and drove in a season-high five runs, Zack Wheeler pitched seven strong innings and the Philadelphia Phillies pummeled the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks 12-1 on Saturday to even the teams’ three-game series.
Bryce Harper went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs, while Kyle Schwarber doubled twice and scored three runs for Philadelphia, which bounced back from a 5-4 loss in the series opener Friday to notch its 50th win.
Wheeler (9-4) limited the Diamondbacks to one run on two hits and struck out eight without walking a batter. He retired Arizona’s first 12 batters before he hit Christian Walker with a pitch to lead off the fifth inning.
Walker scored the Diamondbacks’ lone run on Tucker Barnhart’s two-out single in the fifth.
Barnhart finished 1-for-3 and surrendered a two-run home run to David Dahl in the bottom of the eighth inning after transitioning from catcher to pitcher.
Gregory Soto and Jose Ruiz each worked a perfect relief inning for Philadelphia as Arizona squandered a chance to move above .500 for the first time since the team was 4-3 entering play on April 5.
The Phillies had twice as many home runs (four) as the Diamondbacks had hits (two).
Philadelphia’s first two homers came in the third inning.
Two batters after Schwarber doubled to lead off the frame, Harper obliterated Tommy Henry’s first-pitch curveball 427 feet into the second deck in right field for a two-run shot that made it 4-0.
Alec Bohm followed Harper’s 18th home run of the season with his eighth long ball, a 417-foot drive to center.
Schwarber added a two-out RBI double in the fourth inning that made it 6-0 and chased Henry (2-3). The Arizona starter surrendered six runs on six hits and two walks while striking out two over 3 2/3 innings.
Castellanos pushed the Phillies ahead 8-1 in the fifth when he tattooed a two-run blast 428 feet into the second deck in left for his 11th homer of the year.
Philadelphia went up 10-1 after Castellanos dumped a two-run single to left field in the sixth.
The Phillies avoided a third straight loss and snapped their three-game skid against Arizona dating back to last year’s National League Championship Series.
The Diamondbacks won Games 6 and 7 in Philadelphia last season to secure the franchise’s second National League pennant.
–Field Level Media
