Bohm, Bats Power Philadelphia Phillies to Sweep of Pirates

The Philadelphia Phillies claimed their fourth and final game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.

© Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

After two straight dismal offensive performances from the Philadelphia Phillies' offense, they showed out in force on Sunday, slashing 17 hits and tacking on eight runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Things began with a bang as Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto scorched back-to-back doubles for an early lead. The pair have been unbelievable in the month of July, and have played a significant role in the Phillies' recent surge.

Nick Castellanos followed them up with a RBI single, and the score settled at 2-0 after one inning.

The Pirates got one back in the third in similar fashion, as Kevin Newman and Cal Mitchell of Pittsburgh smoked their own pair of back-to-back doubles off of Aaron Nola, cutting the Phillies' lead in half—but not for long.

Nola had a great outing apart from that blip. He tossed six innings, allowing a lone run while striking out eight. He's been a strong number two behind Zack Wheeler in 2022. 

The top of the fifth inning was kind to the Phillies, and it began with a monster opposite field shot by, you guessed it, Kyle Schwarber.

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The Phillies then strung together four consecutive singles, and added two more to pile on four extra runs, making it a lopsided 7-1 game, and putting the Pirates in a hole they would fail to crawl out of.

The Phillies tacked on their final run when Bohm, who was then three-for-three on the day, bashed a pull-side home run for his fourth hit of the game, which should have solidified the score at 8-1...but not if Jeurys Familia had anything to say about it.

The right-hander made the ninth inning dramatic once again, but was bailed out by some solid defense by Didi Gregorius, which limited the damage to just one run.

With this four-game sweep of the Pirates, the Phillies have deeply ingrained themselves in the 'buyers' category at the trade deadline, and will likely look to be one of the more aggressive teams prior to this year's Aug. 2 trade deadline.

It's going to be a fascinating, and hopefully exciting next two days. 

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