Pourin’ like an avalanche, comin’ down the mountain: Phillies 7, Rockies 3

The Phillies hadn’t won a series since the first weekend of the season. But thanks to an offense that finally appears to be clicking and an opponent that seems determined to lose games, the Phillies have taken the first three games of the series against the Rockies. On Wednesday, the Phillies used good situational hitting, good pitching, and a couple of mistakes by the Rockies to earn a 7-3 victory.

The offense came out firing from the start.

They added another run in the second, but the Rockies were able to tie the game in the following inning. That was barely a setback for the Phillies offense. They answered with two runs in the bottom of the third to give their pitching staff a lead that wouldn’t be relinquished.

That wasn’t to say they didn’t keep scoring. After a C.J. Cron home run got the Rockies within a run, the Phillies’ lightly used backup catcher made a case for additional playing time.

In the seventh, the Phillies added some insurance runs thanks to the Rockies continued efforts to play less-than-stellar defense. With the bases loaded, third baseman Ryan McMahon couldn’t handle Alec Bohm’s ground ball allowing a run to score. The failure to record an out proved even costlier when Didi Gregorius followed with a sacrifice fly.

The Phillies tried to give the Rockies a chance to get back into the game, but the Rockies refused to accept it. With runners on first and second, Odubel Herrera dropped a routine fly ball. But Randal Grichuk inexplicably didn’t run on the play and was forced out at second base.

The Rockies still had a chance with two runners on and two outs, but McMahon’s bad night (three strikeouts) continued as Brad Hand struck him out to end the threat.

Hand wasn’t the only pitcher who performed well. Ranger Suarez got the start and held the Rockies to three runs in six innings. Seranthony Dominguez ended a two-on, one-out threat in the seventh by inducing a double play. And Corey Knebel pitched around a leadoff single to finish things off in the ninth.

The series finale will be on Thursday afternoon. If the Phillies can continue to hit and pitch as well as they have in the first three games - and if the Rockies continue to play as poorly as they have - the Phillies will walk away with not only a series win, but their first sweep of the season.