Garrett Stubbs went 4-for-4 with three runs and an RBI to help the visiting Philadelphia Phillies pound the Kansas City Royals 11-3 in the rubber game of their three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm each had two hits and three RBIs, Brandon Marsh had two hits and scored twice and Nick Castellanos hit a two-run homer for the Phillies, who went 3-3 on the six-game trip.
Phillies left-hander Kolby Allard (2-0) was called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and allowed two runs and eight hits in five innings. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.
Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia and MJ Melendez homered for the Royals, who went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Kansas City dropped three games back of the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central after pulling within a game on Friday night.
Kansas City opens a four-game series at Cleveland on Monday.
Royals starter Seth Lugo (14-8) allowed six runs (five earned) and a season-high 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Lugo came into the day with the third-best ERA in the AL (3.02) and the most innings (166 2/3).
Stubbs tripled into the right field corner to lead off the third and scored on a double by Schwarber for a 1-0 lead. Bohm came through with a two-out, single later in the inning to extend the lead to 2-0.
Witt blasted a 441-foot homer to straightaway center, his 26th of the season, with one out in the third to cut it to 2-1.
Schwarber’s RBI groundout in the fourth extended the lead to 3-1, but Garcia drilled his seventh homer on the first pitch of the fifth to trim it to 3-2.
Stubbs delivered a one-out RBI double in the sixth to extend the lead to 4-2 and end Lugo’s day.
Schwarber grounded the first pitch from Kris Bubic into right field, scoring Rojas, and Stubbs followed him home when Dairon Blanco booted the ball, stretching the lead to 6-2.
Melendez hit his 16th homer leading off the seventh to cut it to 6-3.
For the second straight day, the Phillies blew the game open with five runs in the eighth.
Bryce Harper drove in Stubbs with a double to make it 7-3. Bohm’s two-run single made it 9-3 and Castellanos followed with his two-run homer — No. 17 of the season — for an 11-3 lead.
