Gosselin ignites Phillies' offense in fourth straight win

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The Phillies on Tuesday night did just what they should have done to a reeling team with the worst pitching staff in baseball. 


 
They pounded ‘em.


 
The Phils exploded for seven two-out runs in the top of the sixth inning on their way to a 13-6 win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.


 
Phil Gosselin started the rally with an RBI double after manager Joe Girardi used him as a pinch-hitter for Scott Kingery.


 
The win was the season-high fourth in a row for the surging Phillies, who are now 9-9. The Phils have scored 31 runs in those four games.


 
The Red Sox, who entered the game with the worst ERA (6.06) in the majors, lost for the ninth straight time to fall to 6-18.


 
The two teams close out the quick, two-game series on Wednesday afternoon. The Phillies will look to veteran Jake Arrieta (1-2, 4.02) to keep the winning streak going. The Red Sox will send rookie lefty Kyle Hart (0-1, 22.50) to the mound. He is making just his second big-league start. 


 
Eflin’s night


 
Phillies starter Zach Eflin, coming off a 10-strikeout performance against the Orioles, continued to rack up the Ks. He had eight in four-plus innings, but allowed four runs, two of them coming on a three straight doubles in the third inning.
 
Eflin was charged with a run in the fifth as the Red Sox went ahead, 4-2. The bats came alive in the sixth to give the Phillies the lead.


 
The turning point
 


The game started to turn in the top of the sixth inning when Boston reliever Josh Taylor, trying to protect his team’s two-run lead, hit Didi Gregorius with a pitch.


 
Taylor then retired the next two batters, Alec Bohm and Jay Bruce, before Girardi sent up Gosselin to pinch-hit for Kingery, who is 6 for 49 (.122) on the season. The move paid huge dividends as Gosselin stroked an RBI double off the wall to score Gregorius.
 


Not only did Gosselin’s pinch-hit double pull the Phillies to within a run, it ignited the team’s best rally of the season – six more runs, all with two outs, as the Phils pulled away.


 
Roman Quinn followed Gosselin with a game-tying single. Bryce Harper highlighted the rally with a three-run homer. Andrew McCutchen, J.T. Realmuto and Gregorius also had big hits in the inning. Rhys Hoskins drew an important walk and Quinn and McCutchen stole bases. An all-around big inning.


 
The High Street Hammer


 
Gosselin, a West Chester native who saw his first big-league game at Veterans Stadium, made the Philllies’ 30-man roster with a torrid summer camp and hasn’t stopped hitting. He also belted a home run in the seventh inning, his third of the season, tying a career high.


 
Gosselin is 12 for 28 (.429) with three doubles and three homers this season.
 


Parker shines


 
Good work from the bullpen, right-hander Blake Parker in particular. He pitched two scoreless innings and got the win. He struck out three.


 
Hoskins warming
 


Hoskins slumped badly in the second half of last season and was slow starting this season. Some of Hoskins’ struggles stemmed from his trying to pull too many pitches. He’s worked recently on using more of the whole field. On Saturday night, he stroked a key three-run double to right-center to help the Phillies beat the Mets.


 
He continued to go the opposite way in this one when he stroked his first homer of the season over the right-field wall in the fifth inning. Hoskins had not homered since Sept. 17.


 
Hoskins has hit in seven of his last eight games.


 
The long ball


 
Jay Bruce led the Phillies with four RBIs. He clubbed a three-run homer in the eighth. The Phils hit four homers.
 


Two-out damage


 
Ten of the Phillies’ 13 runs came with two outs.

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