By AARON BRACY Associated Press
Bryson Stott, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals 8-4 on Sunday.
Bryce Harper had two hits and drove in a run for the defending National League champion Phillies, who have won five of seven. Philadelphia began play in second in the NL wild-card standings.
MJ Melendez homered for Kansas City.
Taijuan Walker (13-4) recovered from a shaky first inning to become the first NL pitcher to reach 13 victories.
The Phillies went ahead for good in the second on Schwarber’s 28th homer, a 421-foot, two-run drive to center off Zack Greinke (1-12) that made it 5-4. Castellanos tacked on a two-run shot to left in the fifth, and Harper hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Kansas City tagged Walker for three runs on five hits in the first, but the Phillies evened the score in the bottom half on Stott’s opposite-field drive to left with two down.
After Melendez made it 4-3 in the second with a solo shot, Walker settled down and allowed just one more hit. The 30-year-old finished seven innings of seven-hit ball.
The struggles continued for Greinke, a six-time All-Star. He left after surrendering five runs and seven hits in four innings.
DAZZLING DEFENSE
Royals second baseman Michael Massey and shortstop Maikel Garcia combined on a sensational putout of Stott in the third inning. Massey snared Stott’s hard-hit grounder while diving to his right, flipped the ball out of his glove to Garcia, who fired to first base to just get the speedy Stott.
Stott responded with his own stellar defensive play two innings later, robbing Matt Beaty of an RBI hit with a diving grab.
Center fielder Kyle Isbel took extra bases away from Harper in the seventh with a leaping grab of his drive to the wall in center. The Phillies did score a run on the sacrifice fly.
STILL STREAKING
Harper extended his on-base streak to 14 consecutive games with a first-inning double.
TURNING UP TURNER
Trea Turner doubled in the first inning and finished 1 for 4. Since the Phillies fans responded to a social media campaign to loudly cheer the slumping slugger beginning on Friday night, Turner is 4 for 12 with a three-run homer, two doubles and five RBIs.
TRAINER’S ROOM
The Phillies placed OF Brandon Marsh on the 10-day injured list with a left knee contusion. Marsh got hurt during Saturday night’s 9-6 victory over Kansas City when he crashed into the center-field wall trying to catch Samad Taylor’s fifth-inning triple. Weston Wilson was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take Marsh’s spot on the roster.
UP NEXT
Start a four-game home series versus Washington on Monday night. Phillies LHP Ranger Suárez (2-5, 4.01 ERA) faces Nationals RHP Trevor Williams (5-6, 4.72 ERA).
