It was July 3, too soon by any reasonable measure for scoreboard watching. But it was also Sunday Night Baseball, the last game of the day, so the opportunity facing the Phillies was hard to miss.
The Atlanta Braves already lost. The San Francisco Giants did too. With a win over the St. Louis Cardinals, another National League contender, the Phillies could pull within 1 1/2 games of a playoff spot.
Sure enough, Rhys Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto came through with home runs against Cardinals mainstay Adam Wainwright and Zack Wheeler tossed seven scoreless innings in a 4-0 victory before 44,225 patrons at sold-out Citizens Bank Park.
