The Phillies beat one of the best pitchers in baseball in completing a two-game interleague series sweep of the Chicago White Sox at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night.
The Phils tagged Sox lefty Chris Sale, a top candidate for the AL Cy Young award, for six runs over four innings and won, 8-3.
Jerad Eickhoff entered the game with the third-lowest run support in the majors (3.59 runs per nine innings), so he was happy to see his mates break out the offense. The Phils are 12-1 when scoring three runs or more in an Eickhoff start.
The Phils are 69-83 with 10 games left, not that anybody is counting.
Starting pitching report
Eickhoff allowed just three runs over seven innings. He scattered six hits, walked just one and struck out six. All three of the runs he gave up came on solo homers. Eickhoff has given up seven homers in his last two starts, but six have been solo blows.
For the season, Eickhoff is 11-14 with a 3.75 ERA in 31 starts. He has thrown 187 1/3 innings, which ranks in the top 10 in the NL.
Sale (16-9) gave up seven hits, including a two-run homer by Tommy Joseph. He hit three batters. He entered the game with a 3.03 ERA, second best in the American League, and had 215 strikeouts, fourth most in the AL.
Bullpen report
Joely Rodriguez and David Hernandez closed it out.
At the plate
Joseph had an RBI double in the first inning and a two-run homer in the third. He reached 21 homers in 298 at-bats. Joseph is 12 for 25 with three homers and eight RBIs in his last seven games.
Cameron Rupp had a two-run double and Maikel Franco a two-run single. Cesar Hernandez reached base three times, scored two runs and tripled home two runs. Roman Quinn was on base four times.
Phillies batters were hit four times. Tyler Goeddel was beaned by reliever Chris Beck in the sixth and left the game.
Adam Eaton, Todd Frazier and Alex Avila homered for the Sox.
Lineup stuff
Manager Pete Mackanin went with a lineup of right-handed hitters and switch-hitters against Sale. That meant red-hot Odubel Herrera (15 for 28 over his previous seven games) did not start.
“He’s swinging so well, I don’t want to screw it up and put him in a slump,” Mackanin said. “This guy is tough.”
As it turned out, Sale wasn’t that tough. And Herrera entered the game as a pinch runner in the sixth inning.
Up next
The Phillies open a four-game series against the Mets in New York on Thursday night. Here are the pitching matchups:
Thursday night — LHP Adam Morgan (2-10, 5.49) vs. RHP Seth Lugo (4-2, 2.35)
Friday night — RHP Jeremy Hellickson (12-9, 3.57) vs. TBA
Saturday night — RHP Alec Asher (1-0, 2.16) vs. RHP Noah Syndergaard (13-9, 2.63)
Sunday afternoon — RHP Jake Thompson (3-5, 5.62) vs. RHP Robert Gsellman (2-2, 3.13).