August 06, 2026
Luis Arráez highlighted the best of the Phillies this week.
The high-average hitting second baseman, who arrived to South Philadelphia through a deadline trade with San Francisco on Monday, and shifted the entire makeup of the Phillies' infield in the process, stepped into the lineup hitting cleanup on Tuesday and immediately made a difference.
He had two major RBIs knocks, with an infectious energy at the plate and along the basepaths to match, which immediately endeared him to both the club and Citizens Bank Park in a winning debut.
Then on Wednesday, Arráez's quick and short swing belted a second-inning solo home run off the right-field foul pole, with a nasty bat flip to match after he had just four with the Giants all season.
Then he doubled to the right-field warning track in the first inning on Thursday, scoring Trea Turner from second and sending the Phillies well on their way to a 7-3 win over the Nationals, for a 3 out of 4 games series win at home and against a division rival.
At the plate, Arráez battled, extending pitch counts with a shuffle, a hip thrust, a knock of the bat, or even a complete no-sell of a predicted ball while he was in the box, until he finally got something that he could put in play to move base runners.
He hits for average and doesn't strike out much, but doesn't usually hit for much more than singles, which brought on the thought of how impactful of a bat he can really be, especially once fans saw he would be the new cleanup hitter.
But it turns out he was exactly what the Phillies needed, at least for an initial handful of games.
🚨 LUIS ARRAEZ FIRST HOMER AS A PHILLIE 🚨 pic.twitter.com/gF8l7mvcnA
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 5, 2026
They needed a shutout effort from Jesús Luzardo on Tuesday, too, another solid outing from ace Cristopher Sánchez in the finale on Thursday, and filling the gaps around that, a salvageable start from Aaron Nola on Monday – even if it took a Derek Hill grand slam late to save it – and a manageable appearance from Andrew Painter on Wednesday that gave them a reasonble shot for a while.
What they don't need, though, is further concern about their bullpen, which is largely what prevented them from the full four-game sweep against Washington, and is at a point where it's far too late to fix now.
The Phillies were leading the Nats, 2-1, in the seventh on Wednesday night when they called on Brooks Raley, the lefty reliever they traded with the Mets for.
Brady House tagged him for the tying solo homer, Jacob Young doubled right after to present the go-ahead run, then CJ Abrams roped a ball past short and into left to score him.
The Phils forced extras into the 11th, and called on Caleb Kilian, the righty bullpen arm they got along with Arráez, for the first time, but then he got tagged for a two-run triple from Abrams, and a sacrifice bunt from Miles Mikolas that tacked on one more for Washington for a three-run lead.
Kilian got pulled for Chase Shugart, which spiraled into a six-run meltdown and a 10-4 loss.
Really, the Nationals series brought a lot of good.
The Phils won three-of-four, Arráez looks like he'll be loved and highly productive in Philly, and the team itself looks like it has a dependable means of producing runs that isn't entirely dependent on the long ball now.
They're 62-54, they're holding the second NL Wild Card spot by a 2.5-game cushion, and they have enough elite starting pitching 1-3 to match up with anyone else in the October field – and should get there barring total disaster.
But that bullpen...look, it's only one game in with the new guys, sure, but it isn't great that they gave a not-great Nationals team the go-ahead twice in the same game.
For now, it's still going to leave fans holding their breath unless Sánchez, or Luzardo, or Zack Wheeler are completely lights out for six innings or more, which you can never fully count on against the elite competition (i.e. the Dodgers).
They already tried last October. It left them short in the NLDS in painful fashion.
So here the Phillies are; cooler with Arráez, and maybe a bit better, but better enough?
They still have to prove that last part.
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