Silver Bullet Streak - Phillies 6, Rockies 3

The winning streak extends to four games as the Phillies kicked off their six game road trip with a 6-3 win at Coors Field on Friday night on the strength of a solid outing by Taijuan Walker and some timely late game power from the core of the lineup.

It was an unlikely pitchers’ duel at Coors Field for the first five innings, as Walker and Rockies’ starter Austin Gomber combined for five hits and zero runs over the first five frames.

The Rockies broke through first in the bottom of the sixth on a center field sac fly by CJ Cron that was nearly caught by Dalton Guthrie.

The offense finally got to Gomber in the top of the seventh with a one out solo shot from Alec Bohm and a two run jack by Kyle Schwarber.

Poor fundamentals allowed the Rockies to tie things up in the top of the seventh, as a wild pitch by Walker and an unadvised decision by Josh Harrison to field a ball that should have belonged to Trea Turner resulted in two men on base and a pitching change. Matt Strahm relieved Walker and allowed two runs to score on a single and a sacrifice double play to Charlie Blackmon to end the inning.

In the top of the eighth, Rockies reliever Justin Lawrence allowed a two-out double to Turner and a walk to Bohm before Bryce Harper laced a 2-0 slider to the right field wall to score both baserunners and take a 5-3 Phillies lead.

Harper would score himself on the next pitch as he attempted a steal of third base that resulted in an errant throw from Rockies catcher Elias Diaz to give the Phils their ultimate 6-3 victory margin.

Despite Strahm’s two inherited runners scoring, the bullpen shutdown the Rockies’ hope of a comeback in convincing fashion, going 3.0 IP, 3 H, 5 Ks.

Craig Kimbrel had his best outing in a Phillies’ uniform, allowing an infield single to start the ninth inning and then striking out the next three batters.

JT Realmuto exited the game with a pinky injury on his throwing hand on a slide attempting to stretch a double into a triple that ended the fifth inning.

The teams are back at it tomorrow night as Ranger Suarez is scheduled to make his season debut after recovering from an elbow injury sustained in Spring Training. The Phils will get another shot at Rockies righty Ryan Feltner, who stymied the lineup for a 6 K, 3 H, 0 R, 5.2 IP win three weeks ago at the Bank.