See Phillies Rip 7 Home Runs In Thursday's Game, Tying Record

The Phillies smacked seven home runs in one nine-inning game on Thursday night, tying a 20-year-old franchise record and propelling themselves to a 2.5 game lead in the National League East.

Three players - Rhys Hoskins, Nick Williams, and Maikel Franco - hit two home runs each, while Carlos Santana added another, en route to a 9-4 victory over Cincinnati Reds. The only other time the Phillies have done that in their 135-year history was on Sept. 8, 1998.

All four players have been swinging a hot bat as of late, and the show they put on Thursday night was representative of the raucous kind of season they've been having.

"It feels like we're kids at recess right now," Williams told MLB.com.

Their victory over the Reds was their third straight after a monumental series win over the NL West-leading Dodgers earlier this week.

The Phillies may seem to win a different way every night, but the same, uncomplicated strategy has been behind much of their success: grinding opposing teams down. On Thursday, Reds starter Tyler Mahle threw 53 pitches in the top of the first inning. Typical games only include around 140 to 150 pitches in all nine innings, but the Phillies had already made the Reds throw over a hundred in the fifth inning. All of their hitters had a chance to see a lot of pitches, and Hoskins, Williams, Franco, and Santana just waited for one they liked.

On Tuesday night, the Phillies won a six-hour game against the Dodgers in 16 innings using the same technique, applied in a different way. They didn't score for six innings, but they forced the Dodgers to use nearly every pitcher on their roster to shut them down. Then in the bottom of the 16th, the Dodgers had to use their second baseman to pitch.

The Phillies will battle the Reds again tonight at 7:10 p.m.

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