PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto hit back-to-back home runs and the Philadelphia Phillies scored six runs in the second inning without the ailing Bryce Harper to beat the Minnesota Twins 13-2 on Friday night.
Harper sat out a day after the two-time NL MVP was sidelined by mid-back spasms. There was some good news for the NL champion Phillies as they try to keep the top spot in the wild-card race: Harper is day to day and shouldn’t miss much time.
He could afford to rest against the Twins.
The Phillies roughed up Twins starter Dallas Keuchel (0-1) for six runs over just 1 2/3 innings, small-balling him out of the game in the second.
Stott, J.T. Realmuto, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, who has a hit in eight straight games since Phillies fans started cheering the slumping shortstop, all had RBI hits in the inning — and all runs were scored in the second without a long ball.
The rally was out of the norm for the Phillies in the eighth game of a 10-game homestand. Through the first seven games, the Phillies hit 18 home runs. That matched the franchise's highest total over a seven-game span at home since 1901.
The homers came eventually, and the Phillies (65-52) moved a season-best 13 games over .500.
Stott hit his 11th homer of the season and Realmuto followed with his 15th in the sixth inning for an 11-2 lead. Johan Rojas hit his first big-league homer in the eighth, a two-run shot that made it 13-2.
Minnesota lost its fourth straight but maintained its 3 1/2-game lead over Cleveland in the weak AL Central.
The Phillies beat up on Kansas City and Washington to fatten their grip on a wild-card berth. Against the Twins, the Phillies finished with 15 hits and moved to 6-2 on the homestand.
Cristopher Sánchez (1-3) got plenty of run support to secure his first win of the season. He allowed back-to-back homers to Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler in the second inning, his only runs allowed over six innings.
Philadelphia scored 15 total runs in Sánchez 's five starts in July. The Phillies scored nine in his first August start last week against Kansas City and never gave the Twins much of a chance in this one.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: LHP José Alvarado (left elbow inflammation) will begin a rehab stint next week with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He has a 1.38 ERA in 26 games this season but hasn’t pitched since July 6. ... Schwarber left the game late for an unspecified reason.
UP NEXT
The Twins send RHP Pablo Lopez (7-6, 3.81 ERA) to the mound against Phillies RHP Taijuan Walker (13-4, 3.98).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
