PHILADELPHIA — Rhys Hoskins has been hot at the plate lately. Scorching, actually. Like this boiling-soup summer weather.
And for a few seconds Saturday night, he got hot-tempered, too.
Hoskins hasn’t participated much in Phillies playoff runs the last two years. In 2020, an elbow injury took him off the field in the middle of September. Last year, a torn abdominal muscle sent him to the operating table with 36 games remaining.
So, he wasn’t especially happy in the third inning of an 11-5 rout of the Washington Nationals when Ildemaro Vargas slid headfirst into first base, jarring Hoskins’ right foot as he stretched for a throw from shortstop. Hoskins turned, said a few words, then simmered.
It was a flash of Phillies frustration in the midst of another knee-slapper against the stripped-for-parts Nationals. A few highlights:
— Hoskins became the first Phillies player since at least 1900 to homer in the first inning of three consecutive games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
— J.T. Realmuto tripled and homered in consecutive games. No Phillies player in the modern era has done that, either.
— Newly acquired infielder Edmundo Sosa got his first Phillies hit and RBI and played as-advertised stellar defense.
The Phillies rocked Nationals lefty Patrick Corbin, whom they courted in a free-agent pursuit that luckily didn’t go their way four offseasons ago, for six runs in the first inning and cruised to their fourth consecutive victory and ninth win in 10 games. At 59-48, they are 11 games over .500 for the first time since May 29, 2019, and making them the hottest team in a four-team race for three up-for-grabs playoff spots.
Hoskins doesn’t want to miss being around to see how this turns out.
The Phillies are 9-2 against the Nationals and have eight games left against them, including the series finale Sunday at Citizens Bank Park. They outscored them 23-11 in the last three games and preyed on Corbin, in particular. The beleaguered lefty has a 7.02 ERA, nearly two full runs higher than the next-worst pitcher among the 62 who have thrown enough innings to qualify for the ERA title.
In the Phillies’ “Stupid Money” offseason of 2018-19, they got outbid by the Nationals for Corbin, who signed a six-year, $140 million contract. He has been knocked out of his last two starts in the first inning. The Phillies took no mercy. Corbin faced 10 batters and gave up five hits, two walks, and a hit batter.
All but one of the Phillies’ first-inning runs came with two out. Matt Vierling belted a three-run homer to make it 4-0 before Bryson Stott broke it open with a two-run triple.
But it all started with Hoskins, who crushed a solo homer into the left-field seats. In Bryce Harper’s absence, Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, and Realmuto have alternated and sometimes overlapped as the Phillies’ hottest hitter.
Hoskins has been the constant.
How’s this for a two-month tear? Entering Saturday night, the slugging first baseman had a .967 on-base plus slugging, with 11 doubles, 14 homers, 26 RBIs and 31 runs scored in 51 games.
Singular sensation
In the most underrated at-bat of the game, Nick Castellanos took a two-strike sinker the other way for a two-out single to right field that kept the first inning alive for Vierling’s big homer.
Castellanos hasn’t hit for his usual power with 10 homers in 440 plate appearances, a source of crushing disappointment to him, according to personal hitting coach Matt Martin. But Castellanos conceded the other day that he’s “letting go [of] expectations and being happy with a base hit to right field.”
In this case, it was exactly what the Phillies needed.
Center stage
The deadline trade for Brandon Marsh means less playing time for Vierling, at least in center field. But with a lefty on the mound, Vierling was in the lineup and made the most of the chance.
Before his game-breaking homer against Corbin, he made a diving catch in center field to take a hit from Víctor Robles.
Coming attractions
Meanwhile, at high-A Jersey Shore, top pitching prospects Mick Abel and Andrew Painter made back-to-back starts in a doubleheader.
Abel, the Phillies’ first-round pick in 2020, gave up three hits and three walks and struck out eight in six scoreless innings. From the files of “anything you can do, I can do better,” Painter, the 2021 first-rounder, allowed two hits and one hit and struck out 11 in seven scoreless innings.
