Giant Steps: Phillies 10, Giants 4

The Phillies drew first blood Monday night in one of the most important series remaining on their calendars. After a here-we-go-again first inning from Aaron Nola, the Phils - pitcher and all - righted the ship and turned this one into a 10-4 romp over Gabe Kapler’s San Francisco Giants.

Nola ended up going seven innings in this one, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Four of those hits came in the first, including a Joc Pederson solo shot to give the Giants an early 1-0 lead, before Nola drew a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning and stem the tide. For their part, the offense responded in the bottom half when Bryce Harper drove in Trea Turner with a two-out single. After giving up another single to Alec Bohm, our old buddy Gabe lifted his opener Scott Alexander in favor of Sean Manaea, who took on bulk boy work in this one.

In the bottom of the second, Bryson Stott worked a 13-pitch walk before Edmundo Sosa ripped one into the bullpen to give the Phillies a lead they would not relinquish.

The Giants got one back on a Lamonte Wade home run in the top of the third but lost momentum when Pederson was thrown out trying to stretch a drive to left into a double.

Defensively, the team was pretty sharp tonight, especially Bohm who showed some fantastic glove work at first. He also contributed with a home run of his own in the bottom of the third.

Bohm was certainly deserving of getting the Daycare treatment postgame tonight but so was Bryce, who delivered an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the fifth (assisted by what probably should have been an error on center fielder Wade Meckler) to make it 5-2.

The just-for-show slide, the goofy shrug - truly immaculate.

The Phils tacked on a few more, including four in the seventh - two on a Johan Rojas triple and another pair on an absolutely massive Schwarbomb moments later.

The only real rain on the parade came in the ninth, when Dylan Covey entered the game. Covey - who has pitched pretty well this month - just didn’t have it, allowing all five batters he faced to reach base and two to score. He was lifted in favor of Jeff Hoffman, who needed just five pitches to get the Phillies out of the jam and into the showers with a win.

These two teams go at it again tomorrow, same time and same place. Let’s hope for the same results.