PHILADELPHIA — The dog days of summer aren’t supposed to arrive until July or August.
For the struggling Rockies, they’re here already.
The Phillies completed a three-game sweep of the Rockies tonight with a 6-1 victory at Citizens Bank Park. In the three games, the Phillies outscored the Rockies 33-10. Philadelphia, second in the National League East behind Florida, won its fourth straight.
As has become commonplace this season, the Phillies played smashball. They had just six hits to the Rockies’ eight, but two of them were game-changing home runs by Chase Utley and Geoff Jenkins.
Going into the game, the Rockies liked their chances. They had promising rookie right-hander Greg Reynolds on the mound. The Phillies had struggling and winless Adam Eaton starting for them.
But the Phillies punished Reynolds for issuing eight walks, while the Rockies scored just one run on four hits off Eaton in his six innings.
Throw out the wildness and Reynolds pitched reasonably well for four of his 5 2/3 innings.
He walked three in the first inning, but escaped with just one Phillies’ run on the scoreboard. He followed up with three shutout innings before the walls tumbled down around him in the fifth. Reynolds walked Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino to open the fifth, setting a nice table for Utley who hit a three-run homer to right. It was Utley’s 17th homer of the season and second of the series.
Then Reynolds walked Ryan Howard, setting up Jenkins’ two-run homer. A 1-1 tie quite suddenly became a 6-1 Phillies’ lead. Reynolds stuck it out until the sixth when he was relieved by Jason Grilli. Reynolds (0-2, 5.40) gave up six hits.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
