Hoskins’ two HRs cut down Giants
San Francisco and Oracle Park bring out the best in Phillies slugger Rhys Hoskins, who grew up 90 minutes away and starred at California State University, a half-hour flight south.
Hoskins belted a pair of home runs and drove in a career-high six runs to lead the visiting Phillies to a 13-6 win over Gabe Kapler and the San Francisco Giants Saturday.
Hoskins has three homers in his last three games, all on the West Coast after going homerless in 10 straight games. He jolted a 412-foot three-run shot in the seventh inning to ice the decision for the Phillies.
“Every time we come back to this stadium and kind of step on the grass it brings me back to being a kid and being a fan, sitting in the seats and watching these guys do what we’re doing right now,” said Hoskins, who with 15 homers has moved into the top 10 in the National League. “Always, always special no matter where it is. But pretty cool that a lot of the people that I love and consider family, that are very close were here to see it and here for support.”
The list included Hoskins’ father, his sister who made the trip from the East Coast, along with aunts, uncles, and college friends. Hoskins hopes to get together with all of them before the end of the three-game series with the Giants, who lead the NL West. With a win Sunday the Phillies would secure the series and go 3-3 on the difficult road trip that began with two losses in three games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Win a series on the road against a first-place team, against someone that beat us at home, it’s great,” said Hoskins, who tops the Phillies with 42 RBIs. “The offense seems to be creating a little bit of momentum. I think a win would go a long way tomorrow. Hopefully, we can come out with the same intensity as we did today and get on them early.”
It looked like the Phillies weren’t going to get a break when Aaron Nola got off to an awful start as he gave up a two-run blast in the bottom of the first inning to Mike Yastrzemski, the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski. That gave the Giants a 2-1 lead.
But Hoskins delivered a tworun shot traveling 418 feet to plate Odubel Herrera in the second inning. The lead see-sawed, shortstop Ronald Torreyes drilling a two-run double and a solo shot to keep the Phillies going while Nola blew up.
Nola could get just one out after completing a 30-pitch second inning. He exited having allowed six hits, including two home runs, six earned runs and three walks. Nola has served up nine home runs in his last eight starts, the Phillies winning just three of those games.
Ranger Suarez got the final two outs without allowing further damage. Hoskins believes that winning a game when your top pitcher is shelled speaks to the potential of the lineup around him.
“Nola battled a little bit for us today, but Ranger picked him up and that’s how it goes,” Hoskins said. “Torreyes has been a sparkplug. He seems to be getting a lot of big hits and he’s playing incredible defense at short. Made a couple really good plays today. The guy’s just a ballplayer. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He’s always ready to play.”
Manager Joe Girardi is hopeful the Phillies use the win Saturday as a springboard as they oppose the Washington Nationals and New York Mets in a couple of huge series coming up.
“Rhys had a huge day for us,” said Girardi, who also praised Torreyes, “Any time you get a chance to come home and have a big day at home it’s extra special. I’m really happy for him. Through all the struggles he went through for like seven or eight days, he came, he prepared, he worked, he smiled, he cheered for everyone. He was a great teammate. We knew that eventually he would come out of it. This is a great place for him to really get going.”