Phillies use early outburst to beat Royals
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Phillies wasted little time jumping on Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura en route to a 7-2 win on Sunday that was highlighted by a three-run home run from Cameron Rupp in the first inning.
Rupp blasted an opposite-field shot to bring in Peter Bourjos and Maikel Franco. The single from Bourjos three batters earlier extended his hitting streak to 12 games, the longest by any Phillies player this season.
Franco mashed his team-leading 14th homer of the season in the eighth inning as the Phillies finished with 11 hits. Cody Asche also joined in on the home-run parade as he picked up his third home run of the season after missing the first 53 games.
The Phillies offense has done a complete turnaround to break out of a rut that saw them drop 11 of 13 contests from June 14-26. They have scored four or more runs in four of their last five games.
Asche's solo shot that sailed into the right-field second deck proved to be the final blow for Ventura. The right-hander was pulled with two outs in the third inning after putting his team into an early 4-0 hole. The Royals announced that Ventura suffered a right ankle sprain.
Since serving an eight-game suspension for throwing at Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado, Ventura has had back-to-back poor outings. On Tuesday, he tied his career high with seven runs allowed in 5 1/3 innings against St. Louis. He has now pitched eight innings in his last two starts, giving up 11 runs, 11 hits and three home runs.
Phillies starter Vince Velasquez (7-2) got the win, allowing five hits, two walks and two runs in six innings.
NOTES: The Phillies had a four-game win streak snapped on Saturday. It was their longest such streak since a six-game run that ended on May 1. ... With Saturday's loss, the Phillies have failed to win back-to-back games at home since May 17-18. They are 5-16 at Citizen's Bank Park over that span. ... Kansas City 1B Kendrys Morales hit two home runs on Saturday, one from each side of the plate, to become the first Royals player to do so since Ben Zobrist last season. The occurrence has only happened eight times in franchise history. ... Phillies RF Peter Bourjos entered Sunday with an 11-game hitting streak, which is one game shy of his career-best set in 2011. ... The Royals boast a 13-9 record in day games this season, going 4-1 since June 11.