By Sam Bush
Drew Smyly tossed seven scoreless innings, Rhys Hoskins homered and the Phillies defeated the San Francisco Giants, 4-2.
They now stand six games out of first place in NL East and tied with the Cubs for the second wild card playoff spot.
Jean Segura ripped three hits while Cesar Hernandez, J.T. Realmuto and Adam Haseley added two hits each for the Phillies. Bryce Harper also walked three times and scored one run.
Smyly (2-5) gave up four hits. He recorded five strikeouts against just one walk while throwing 103 pitches, 71 for strikes.
Hector Neris pitched a scoreless ninth for his 19th save in 23 opportunities.
The Phillies stranded four runners in scoring position through the first three innings, and the game remained scoreless.
San Francisco managed only two hits through the first four innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Phillies went ahead 1-0 when Maikel Franco grounded out but knocked in Realmuto from third. Haseley then doubled home Hernandez for a 2-0 advantage.
Hoskins crushed a two-run shot in the fifth, his team-leading 23rd of the season, for a 4-0 lead.
San Francisco’s Donovan Solano singled to center with one out in the sixth. But Mike Yastrzemski grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The Giants grounded into eight outs through Smyly’s seven innings.
Nick Pivetta came in to pitch the eighth for the Phillies and allowed a pinch-hit homer to Belt, who had been in an 0-for-17 slump. The solo homer cut the Phillies’ lead to 4-1 and was the third career pinch-hit home run for Belt.
