The Phillies won their first series in three weeks on Thursday afternoon by demolishing the Colorado Rockies 9-3. The Phillies’ offense was clicking on all levels manufacturing runs and hitting for power as well. It was a stark contrast to the previous night when the Rockies defeated the Phils 7-2 on Wednesday.

Wednesday night was tough, to say the least. Nick Pivetta struggled for the Phillies while Rockies’ starter Tyler Anderson was stellar, pitching seven innings and only allowing one run. Pivetta’s night started off shaky but really went south in the fourth inning. It began with Carlos Gonzalez bunting down the third base line to avoid the shift–something Phillies fans wished Ryan Howard would have done for years. It was the first of five-straight Colorado hits and the Rockies blew the game wide open taking a 6-0 lead by inning’s end. The Phillies offense could never truly get anything going although Jorge Alfaro and Jesmuel Valentin both homered and Valentin ended up a triple away from the cycle.

Back to Pivetta, that’s four-straight losses for him and Wednesday’s was the worst loss of all. He’s struggling to really locate his pitches and we’ve seen his strikeout numbers decrease and his walk numbers increase because of it. Like much of this Phillies squad, Pivetta’s young at the age of 25 so he should be able to work through this get back to the form we saw in the middle of May.

On to Thursday. The Phillies immediately rebounded with Rhys Hoskins hammering a ball over the left field fence in the first inning and Nick Williams followed suit in the second inning with a homer of his own. Vince Velasquez came out sharp against the Rockies after getting shelled by the Brewers last Friday night. Velasquez wanted redemption so badly he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He was dealing and his curveball showed it. Vinny was pulled in the seventh after allowing his first hit and the Rockies plated two runs cutting the Phillies lead to 3-2.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, something clicked with the Phillies offense. Hit after hit after hit and the Phillies stretched the lead out to 7-2. Everybody got involved and the heart of the order (Rhys, Odubel Herrera, Carlos Santana) brought them across the plate. After Hector Neris allowed a homer in the eighth inning, the Phillies added two more runs. Andrew Knapp doubled and was knocked in from a JP Crawford triple. Rhys would later bring JP in for Hoskins’ third RBI of the day.

So many things to unpack with excitement. JP Crawford showing signs of the hitter we’ve been waiting to see. Rhys doing Rhys things once again. Vince Velasquez looking like early 2016 Vince Velasquez. Stringing together hits and scoring–in multiple innings nonetheless! A series win! The key now is to carry that momentum and build up the consistency. This is going to be immediately put to the test as the Phillies travel up to Milwaukee to face the Brewers. The Phillies will have Jake Arrieta, Zach Eflin, and Aaron Nola start for them so the shot at redemption is very attainable.

(cover photo via)