Hot Phillies Sweep Series from Ice Cold White Sox

Kyle Schwarber drove in two runs on a home run and sacrifice fly and scored three runs to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to an 8-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on April 21st. Bryce Harper drove in two runs and Trae Turner scored twice, once on a steal of home, and Alec Bohn had three hits for the Phillies. Aaron Nola allowed two runs and four hits in eight innings pitched. The Phillies swept the three game series.

The White Sox are, to say the least, off to a terrible start to the 2024 season. With the loss, Chicago’s record dropped to 3-18, the worst record in the majors and the worst start in franchise history. They’ve lost nine of their last 10. Part of the problem is that the Sox can’t hit the ball. They are hitting a collective .188, with an on base percentage of .264, a slugging percentage of .288, and an OPS of .588. All of those numbers are the worst in the majors. They are last in home runs with 11, and have scored just 45 runs in 21 games which—you guessed it—is last in the majors by quite a margin (the Oakland Athletics are second from the bottom at 63). The White Sox have already been shut out seven times. Phillies pitchers took no hitters into the seventh and eighth innings of the first two games of the series. The White Sox pitching hasn’t been great either—the clubs’ ERA is 4.96, which is better than Colorado’s 5.88 and Houston’s 5.10—but when you average just 2.14 runs scored per game, it’s hard for the pitching staff to put wins on the board.

The Phillies, on the other hand, extended their winning streak to six games, currently the longest one in the majors, and are 14-8, one game behind frontrunner Atlanta in the National League East. One cautionary note on that; the Phillies first three wins of that streak were against the Colorado Rockies who are almost as bad as the White Sox so far. Colorado has lost eight of 10 and is 5-17.

Next up for Philadelphia is a 10 game road trip to Cincinnati, San Diego, and the Los Angeles Angels. The White Sox go to Minnesota for a four game series. The Twins have also stumbled out of the gate and are 7-13. The White Sox are 4 ½ games behind the Twins, so if they can win all four, they’ll just be in last place by half a game.

Highlights of the April 21st game: