Phillies prove firing Rob Thomson was right call as record gets back over .500

The Philadelphia Phillies completed a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, to push their record above .500. Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly, who took over from Rob Thomson, continues to bring the club back into the right direction.

“The Philadelphia Phillies sweep the Pirates, and for the first time since April 7 have a winning record at 24-23,” USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale posted to X, formerly Twitter.

The Phillies fired Thomson following a brutal 10-game losing streak earlier in the season. Mattingly took over as skipper, even though Philadelphia actually tried to hire Alex Cora first. Cora had also been fired as a Major League Baseball manager this season, for the Boston Red Sox.

As soon as Mattingly became manager, the wins started coming for Philadelphia. The Phillies now have put themselves in position to compete for the postseason. That’s where everyone thought they were going before the regular season.

The Phillies bullied their way past the Pirates in a three-game series over the weekend. Philadelphia won Sunday, 6-0. It was the second day in a row the club posted a 6-0 victory over their rival in Pennsylvania.

The victory on Sunday was even sweeter for the Phillies considering the team was going up against Pirates ace Paul Skenes. Skenes lasted just five innings and allowed five earned runs, in one of his worst starts of the season.

“Honestly, you have to stay in the game with [Skenes]. You can’t give him a three- or four-run cushion,” Phillies manager Don Mattingly said, per MLB.com. “You can’t beat this guy up. It happened maybe once this year. You can’t count on anything like that. Your starter has to be good. We have the right guy.”

The Phillies are currently second in the National League East, behind only the Atlanta Braves. Philadelphia has now won four games in a row.

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