Bohm continues torrid July as Phillies outslug Bucs

PITTSBURGH -- The Phillies’ offense is breaking out of its doldrums, and Alec Bohm is leading the way.

Bohm had two more hits Thursday night, as the Phillies took a seven-run lead before hanging on for an 8-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a four-game series at PNC Park.

Every Phillies player had a hit, as Philadelphia pounded out 15 in all. No one, though, is hotter than Bohm, who hit in the No. 3 spot in the batting order for the first time since his rookie season in 2020.

Bohm is hitting a sizzling .435 in July. The third baseman sums up his big month in one word.

“Simplicity,” he said. “I’m not trying to do too much, I guess. When I’m getting the ball over the plate, I’m swinging at it. I’ve got my swing working right, and I’m on time more often than not.”

Bohm had a .263 batting average at the end of June, and now has lifted that mark to .294. He attributes part of his hot streak to the vagaries of a long season.

“I’m definitely more relaxed,” Bohm said. “It’s just kind of the baseball season. You’re going to have good stretches and you’re going to have bad stretches. Right now, I’m having my good stretch. I’m just trying to keep sticking to what I’m doing. You’re only as good as the pitches you swing at.”

The entire Phillies offense seemed to swing at good pitches Thursday.

Rookie Darick Hall’s two-run triple highlighted a three-run first inning. Kyle Schwarber’s three-run home run in the sixth, No. 32 of his season to lead the National League, put the Phillies ahead 7-0.

Nick Castellanos had three hits and Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins and Matt Vierling added two each as the Phillies won for the third time in four games. That came a day after the Phillies notched a 7-2 win over the Atlanta Braves to end their homestand.

The 15 runs combined in the last two games is welcome news for the Phillies. They had been held to three runs or less in 11 of their 14 games prior to Wednesday.

It was a prolonged slump for an offense that entered Thursday's action eighth in the Major Leagues in runs scored, with an average of 4.63 per game.

Zack Wheeler (9-5) benefited from the run support as he got the win, allowing two runs in seven innings. Both he and Aaron Nola have suffered from a lack of hitting help this season, as the Phillies are a combined 18-21 in their top two pitchers’ starts.

“It’s nice to see us swing the bats like that,” Wheeler said. “It’s always nice to have the big lead like that, so you can settle in.”

Like everyone else in the Phillies’ clubhouse, Wheeler is most impressed by Bohm.

Bohm made a big splash when he made his MLB debut in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and hit .338 in 44 games. However, he slumped to .247 in 115 games last year.

“Last year, he struggled a little bit, but this year, he’s become a good solid hitter,” Wheeler said. “He hits the ball to the opposite field, and he can also run into one. He’s very disciplined and, from experience, those guys are tough to face, those guys who can shoot the ball the other way into the opposite-field gap.”

The Phillies needed all eight runs that Bohm and the rest of the offense produced Thursday night.

They took an 8-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, but Tyler Heineman’s two-run single and Kevin Newman’s two-run triple off Jeurys Familia brought the Pirates within two runs with one out.

Interim manager Rob Thomson called on closer Seranthony Domínguez, who allowed Oneil Cruz’s run-scoring groundout that drew Pittsburgh within 8-7. Domínguez then got Ke’Bryan Hayes to hit a game-ending flyout to right field for his sixth save in seven opportunities.

“You’re up [7-0], you don’t think you’re going to need your closer, but sometimes that happens,” Thomson said. “I thought we played very well. We swung the bats well, everyone had a hit and we played really good defense.”