Phils best in MLB at feasting on opposing SP?

PHILADELPHIA -- Bullpens better come rested and ready when they play the Phillies, because they are grinding up starting pitchers like nobody else in baseball.

In fact, no other team comes close.

The Phillies chewed up Twins right-hander Jake Odorizzi in Friday night’s 10-4 victory in cold and rainy conditions at Citizens Bank Park. He lasted just two-thirds of an inning, putting him at the extreme end of a continuing, early-season trend for the Phillies’ offense. The Phillies are the only team in baseball not to have an opposing starter complete six innings against them this season, with no starting pitcher even so much as recording an out in the sixth.

Opposing starters are averaging a mere 3 2/3 innings against the Phillies. The Mariners are a distant second with opposing starters averaging 4 2/3 innings per game.

“Man, this offense can grind you down,” Phillies bench coach Rob Thomson told manager Gabe Kapler late in the game.

The Phillies have scored at least five runs in each of their first six games of the season for the first time since April 16-23, 1898. The Phillies’ historic offensive has them 5-1 for the first time since 2011.

“We had a lot of that last year, too, especially towards the beginning,” first baseman Rhys Hoskins said. “We also brought in some pretty good hitters and you see, especially Cutch [Andrew McCutchen] at the top, taking at-bats like he does -- leading off a game, leading off an inning -- and it’s pretty contagious.

“You’ve got Jean [Segura] doing what he does and Harp [Bryce Harper] doing what he does. It’s just really deep. Guys taking professional at-bats every time through a lineup and that wears on a pitcher. You take walks -- I think we had nine today -- [and have] guys on base all the time -- good things usually happen when you have guys on base.”

It started in the first inning, when Odorizzi threw 36 pitches before Twins manager Rocco Baldelli pulled him with the bases loaded, two outs and a pair of runs already across. Twins right-hander Ryne Harper followed, allowing a Maikel Franco first-pitch double to right field that, along with a Minnesota error, cleared the bases to make it 5-0.

The Phillies made the Twins throw 40 pitches in the first inning and 192 pitches overall.

“The league average is 140-ish,” Kapler said. “So that's what we've done the entire season. We've grinded down pitchers. We've gotten big hits. But it's the deep counts. It's the walks. It's the great at-bats that have carried us thus far. Even when we've had some guys who haven't gotten hits at the end of those at-bats -- we talked about it last year -- it's an even deeper lineup that does the same thing.”

Hoskins was a perfect example of that mantra on Friday, seeing a combined 36 pitches in his five plate appearances, including 11 on his fourth-inning strikeout -- the lone time he didn't reach base.

It has Baldelli wondering how Minnesota is going to cover itself the rest of the weekend.

“We're going to spend some time talking about it,” Baldelli said. “We definitely went through more of our guys than we probably planned or hoped for. We do have to make sure that we can cover. It's not about just tomorrow, it's about figuring out how to get through the weekend and also go out there and compete and not just try to get through games, but try to field as competitive a staff as we can to not just cover innings but win.”

The five-run first-inning lead helped Phillies right-hander Nick Pivetta, who allowed nine hits and four runs in five innings. He has allowed 17 hits in 9 2/3 innings in two starts, but he left the ballpark encouraged.

“I thought Pivetta came out in very, very tough conditions and gave us a pretty gutsy performance,” Kapler said. “It's not his best. There's still some hard contact. It's almost like his stuff is so good that we're only going to be satisfied when we see a consistent six- or seven-inning performance where he misses a lot of bats and induces a lot of weak contact. That's what he's capable of. That's what we kind of expect from him. So we're looking for that.”

Bryce Harper, you are the man

The Phillies had the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh, when Hoskins singled to left field and cleared the bases. How? Harper, who started on first, ran home from third when he noticed Twins left fielder Eddie Rosario hesitating to throw the ball back into the infield.

If Hoskins hits 100 RBIs this season, he can thank Harper for that one.

“That’s just baseball instincts,” Hoskins said. “You can’t teach that. I asked [third-base coach] Dusty [Wathan] if he sent him and he didn’t. That was just all Bryce.”

Kapler cited one of the most famous baserunning plays in Phillies history, when Chase Utley scored from second on a Ryan Howard chopper up the first-base line on Aug. 9, 2006, against the Braves at Turner Field. It’s the game when Harry Kalas famously said, “Chase Utley, you are the man!”

“Kind of flashes of heads-up, gutsy, taking advantage of a defender that slow-played it a little bit,” Kapler said.