Phillies Get 'Sour Taste' Out of Their Mouths With Electric Sweep

The Philadelphia Phillies have been red-hot.

They're playing their best baseball of the season, and they entered their three-game road set against the Tampa Bay Rays as winners of their last three series.

However, the Phillies have left their last two with some meat on the bone.

Facing opportunities to sweep both the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks, they have come up short in the finale, putting together a lackluster offensive performance against their division rivals and not quite completing the comeback when they lost in extras against the NL West foe.

With Philadelphia winning the first two games of the series over the Rays, they had another chance to bring the brooms out on Thursday.

For a while, it looked like they were going to squander another sweep opportunity.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, the bats went quiet again and things turned into an uphill battle from the third frame on when they got into a 2-1 hole. That deficit only got bigger when Tanner Banks gave up a three-run blast in the bottom of the seventh, making it seem like the Phillies were going to have another disappointing result on this road trip.

But things were different this time around.

Bryson Stott hit a three-run homer of his own in the top of the eighth to put his team back in striking distance, and some good hitting in the ninth tied things up and allowed Philadelphia to win in extras.

"Winning series is huge but we've had a sour taste in our mouths from a couple of series that have gotten away from us on the sweeps. Just finishing the job, so to speak, is what we've got to start doing," Matt Strahm said, per Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

This felt like a huge moment for the Phillies.

Not only were they able to get the sweep that has eluded them, but they were also able to do so in comeback fashion, rallying for a late-game win that was the result of Stott hitting an important long ball and key at-bats from multiple players in the lineup to get this done.

All of a sudden, the bullpen is starting to pitch better, too, something that is a great sign.

Philadelphia is playing at the highest level they have all season, and finally getting their sweep was the final indicator that things are clicking for this group right now.

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