Dbacks and Phillies combine for MLB record 13 home runs in 13-8 win for Arizona

Embed from Getty Images

Eduardo Escobar's big night helped power Dbacks past Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies (37-29) are no longer all alone in first place in the National League East Division standings. After being crushed by a 13-8 score on Monday night by the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks (35-32) at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies now find themselves tied at the top with the Atlanta Braves.

This marks the first time since April 25 that the Phillies were not at the top of the division by themselves. The Braves crushed the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight in Atlanta by 13-7 to earn the tie. It was a fourth consecutive win for the Braves, the fifth win in a row for the Dbacks, and the Phillies second straight loss.

The Phillies and Braves are set to meet this coming weekend down in Atlanta in a key mid-season series, the first meeting between the clubs since the Phillies swept the Braves in the first series of the season back in late March.

The vast majority of the 21 runs scored by the two teams came via the long ball. The two clubs combined for a Major League Baseball record 13 home runs in this contest. Unfortunately for the home side and their fans, most of those were slugged by the visitors.

Arizona jumped all over Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff (3-4) about as hard as you can jump on a pitcher. The Dbacks first three batters – Jarrod Dyson, Ketel Marte and David Peralta – all homered.

Credit Eickhoff in the immediate aftermath of that potentially demoralizing opening. He settled down to retire the next nine straight Arizona batters as the Phillies slowly fought back with solo runs in each of their first three at-bats to get back to even.

Jean Segura‘s sixth home run of the season got the Phillies on the board in the home 1st inning. In the 2nd, Scott Kingery ripped a one-out triple and scored on a ground out by Maikel Franco to make it 3-2. They tied it up in the 3rd when Rhys Hoskins singled home Segura, who had reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second base.

Arizona Diamondbacks bring desert heat to South Philly

Embed from Getty Images

Dbacks tickets could still be hot sellers in Phoenix this summer

The Philadelphia Phillies (37-28) are 5-1-1 over their last seven series, with only a sweep at the hands of the host Los Angeles Dodgers showing as a black mark over their last month of play. They lead the NL East Division standings by one game over the Atlanta Braves.

To close out a short home stand, the Phillies welcome in the Arizona Diamondbacks (34-32) of the NL West Division to Citizens Bank Park for three games to open this week. The Dbacks are winners of four straight games, and now sit 2.5 games behind Atlanta for the final NL Wildcard playoff berth.

Over the first month or so of the season, the Diamondbacks were as hot as the Arizona desert in mid-summer. They bolted out to a 20-13 start and were within a game of the division lead.

But the club won just eight of their next 25 games to fall below the .500 mark, consistently dropping further and further behind the Dodgers in the standings. Even with that four-game current win streak, the Dbacks still trail the Dodgers by 11 games.

While their rivals in Los Angeles appear to be well on their way to a seventh consecutive division crown, Arizona remains squarely in the National League Wildcard race as they fight to reach the playoffs for just the third time in this decade. So, they will certainly pose a challenge to the Phillies, who are looking to return to those playoffs for the first time in eight years.

Arizona comes in with a potent offensive attack which ranks third in the National League in runs-per-game. They are also second in the league in doubles, third  in batting average and stolen bases, fourth in OPS, and fifth in home runs. So this is a well-rounded and balanced attack.

The Dbacks pitching staff is no slouch either, ranking fourth in the NL in ERA, and 5th in OPS-against and strikeouts. No team in all of Major League Baseball has a better fielding percentage than the Arizona defenders, who have committed the fewest errors in the entire National League.

Bottom line, this is a sound ball club that is coming in to South Philly this week. Though they were struggling badly for more than a month, the Dbacks have recently gotten hot again. It will be up to the Phillies to cool them off, finding a way to win yet another series.

Owings helping Dbacks overcome injuries to stay in NL West race

A check of the National League West Division standings this morning shows the Arizona Diamondbacks right in the thick of things. 

The Snakes are now 36-25, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers in second place, two games behind the Colorado Rockies.

The Dbacks dropped three straight games in Miami last weekend. But now back home at Chase Field, Arizona has gotten back on track with a pair of wins over the division-rival San Diego Padres. A key performer in these two games has been utility player Chris Owings.

On Tuesday, Owings cracked his seventh home run of the season. The three-run shot in the second inning blew the game open early, giving Arizona a 7-0 lead en route to a 10-2 rout.

Last night, Owings went 1-3, scoring a run and driving home another. His seventh inning sacrifice fly brought home Paul Goldschmidt with a run to open up a 7-3 lead. Arizona would eventually win the game by a 7-4 margin.

In both games, he was the starting shortstop in new manager Torey Lovullo‘s lineup. Owings has started 30 of the Dbacks’ 61 games this year at the position. He evenly splits time there with Nick Ahmed, who has started the other 31 games at shortstop.