The Philadelphia Phillies look to move a season-high 30 games over .500 on Sunday when they host the Oakland Athletics in the teams' last contest before the All-Star break. The Phillies avenged a 6-2 setback to the Athletics in the series opener on Friday by belting four homers in their 11-5 romp on Saturday. Nick Castellanos and Trea Turner each launched a two-run shot and Bryce Harper and Johan Rojas also went deep for Philadelphia, which has won four of its last five games overall. "We got it going early and kept it going," said Harper, who has now homered against all 30 major league teams. Turner has gone deep seven times in 11 games this month. He has recorded at least one hit in 19 of the 23 games since he returned from the injured list due to a hamstring strain on June 17. Philadelphia's Orion Kerkering (2-1, 1.30 ERA) will serve as the opener on Sunday before fellow right-hander Michael Mercado is expected to work the bulk of the innings. The need for a bullpen game came with Zack Wheeler's turn being skipped in the rotation due to the right-hander's lower back spasms. Wheeler will join left-hander Ranger Suarez in failing to participate in the upcoming All-Star Game. "It's not anything major, but he's got tightness in his back," Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said of Suarez. "It hurts him in the sense that not only his back hurts, but because he wanted to pitch in the All-Star Game, but he doesn't think it's the best thing to do at this time. He wants to be ready for the second half of the season." Left-hander Cristopher Sanchez was added to the National League All-Star roster on Saturday, replacing Atlanta Braves veteran Chris Sale. Kerkering, 23, allowed two hits and struck out two in two-thirds of an inning in relief on Saturday, which served as his first career appearance against Oakland. The Phillies' pitching staff has struggled to contain Brent Rooker, who followed up a 2-for-5 performance in the series opener by homering among his three hits on Saturday. "He's been locked in," Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said of Rooker, who is 18-for-39 (.462) with four homers, 10 RBIs and 13 runs in July. Delaware native Zack Gelof belted his eighth homer since June 2 in the third inning on Saturday. He promptly received more than an earful from the Philly faithful. "Hitting a home run was pretty cool," said Gelof, who grew up rooting for the Phillies. "The place was rocking. Hearing the boos was pretty cool, too. It means you're doing something right." Oakland right-hander Joey Estes (3-4, 5.53) will look to atone for a disastrous outing when he takes the mound on Sunday. Estes allowed eight runs on seven hits in a career-low 1 2/3 innings of a 12-9 loss at the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday. That brutal outing came on the heels of a sterling performance in which he scattered five hits in a 5-0 shutout of the visiting Los Angeles Angels on July 3. Estes, 22, will face the Phillies for the first time in his career. --Field Level Media
Jul 13, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper (3) hits a home run against the Oakland Athletics in the seventh inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports