NEW YORK — Ninety minutes before the first pitch here Saturday, Bryce Harper shuffled the playlist in the Phillies’ clubhouse in search of the right pregame mix.
But the offense is suddenly in perfect harmony.
The Phillies’ batmen have found their groove in Gotham — just in time for the trade deadline. Led by Harper, who took one of his best swings of the season in the third inning, they rocked and rolled to a 9-4 rout at sold-out Yankee Stadium one day after a 12-run, 14-hit outburst.
» READ MORE: Trade deadline update: Phillies among the potential fits for Diamondbacks’ Eugenio Suárez
“A lot of times they feed off of Harp, but I think they’re feeding off each other now,” manager Rob Thomson said after the Phillies clinched a second consecutive winning series after dropping three in a row. “They’re trying to keep up with the Joneses in the lineup. They’re doing a good job.”
The Phillies (60-44) pulled into a first-place tie with the Mets, who were playing late in San Francisco. And they will aim for a sweep Sunday with ace Zack Wheeler against the Aaron Judge-less Yankees (56-48), who put their MVP slugger on the injured list with a flexor strain in his right elbow.
After Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto combined for three homers and seven RBIs in the series opener Friday night, Harper banged a tone-setting homer against Yankees starter Marcus Stroman, while Trea Turner got two hits, scored twice, and drove in two runs.
But it wasn’t only the usual suspects who provided thump against the Yankees. Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler had two hits apiece. Edmundo Sosa, who left in the seventh inning after colliding with Marsh in shallow left field, crushed a two-run homer to straightaway center field.
The Phillies pounded 13 hits and drew seven walks. Every starter reached base.
“A lot of our veteran guys have been carrying a huge weight of the workload for us, hitting-wise,” said Marsh, who went 2-for-3 with a walk. “Guys like myself have got to try to get to first so they could get us in. But the veterans that we have, they’re doing incredible. It’s fun to see, and it’s fun to hit after them.”
» READ MORE: What’s it like for players dealt at baseball’s trade deadline? Three Phillies tell their stories.
It might even enable the front office to focus entirely on the bullpen before Thursday’s trade deadline. Although the Phillies continue to seek another bat, preferably in the outfield, rival executives and evaluators believe the bullpen remains their top priority.
Sosa, starting at third base in place of injured Alec Bohm, declared — in English and Spanish — that he will play Sunday despite bruising his back. He was backpedaling in pursuit of a fly ball when onrushing Marsh ran into him. The Phillies diagnosed Sosa with a bruised back.
“I was a little concerned there, but then, after I went down, we worked on it a little bit, and I started feeling better,“ Sosa said through a team interpreter. ”Maybe it was just at the beginning I was a little confused on what was really going on. But I’m feeling good and ready.”
Marsh explained that it appeared Sosa and Turner lost the ball in the sun, “so I thought I had to go make a play.” Sosa told Marsh that he called for the ball. Marsh didn’t hear him.
“That’s my fault,” Marsh said. “I should’ve definitely backed off a little bit. I’ve just got to have better ears. I gave him a little forearm shiver in the back. I’ve got to be a little bit more graceful.”
Sosa also learned a lesson, albeit earlier in the game. When he slammed his helmet and bat after striking out with a runner on third base and two out in the fifth inning, Harper pulled him aside.
“He called me out a little,” Sosa said. “He told me, ‘That’s not you, and that’s not how we do it here.’ Talking to him helped me calm down a little, get back to my head, and just focus a little more on what I wanted to do on my next at-bat.”
In his next at-bat, Sosa homered.
Harper also teamed up with Ranger Suárez for a defensive gem in the fourth inning. With the Phillies leading, 4-1, and the Yankees threatening with runners on the corners, Harper dove to his right to smother Trent Grisham’s slow roller on the edge of the grass. He flipped it underhand to Suárez, who grabbed it with his bare hand and stepped on first base.
Rally stopped. Inning over.
“I wanted to go for the barehanded catch because if I turn my body to get the ball with the glove, I might lose a little time,” said Suárez, who allowed seven hits and threw a season-high 108 pitches in 5⅔ innings but bounced back from a six-run dud in his previous start. “That could’ve caused him to be safe at first.”
It helped that the Phillies kept adding to the lead with an offense that is humming at the right time.
