Phillies Red-Hot Stretch Separated Themselves From Rest of MLB

After dropping the series finale against the Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies' nine-game win streak came to an end.

But this stretch was good enough to put them in first place in the NL East.

The Phillies and New York Mets have flip-flopped in the division standings since the winning streak began on May 16, with the Mets initially holding a 2.5-game lead that has now turned into a two-game lead for Philadelphia entering their off-day on Monday.

Top-of-the-order bats -- Trea Turner (.349/.383.698), Bryce Harper (.390/.434/.561) and Kyle Schwarber (.235/.422/.559) -- have carried the offensive load for the team since the 9-1 stretch began, driving in 26 of the team's 54 RBI.

The rest of the Phillies' lineup has a collective .247 batting average (58-for-235) in that time.

Turner gave Philadelphia life on Sunday, driving in three of the team's five runs, but a two-run eighth inning from the Athletics flipped the script and gave the Phillies their first lost in almost two full weeks.

Philadelphia has also gotten large contributions from their pitching staff over the course of the last 10 games, ranking near the top of the league strikeouts-per-nine (10.2), strikeout percentage (27.3%) and home runs-per-nine (0.7) while playing in Coors Field and Sutter Health Park -- two extremely hitter-friendly ballparks.

The shining star on the mound this season has been Jesús Luzardo, who capped off another immaculate start with 10 strikeouts over seven innings in the series finale.

While his ERA now sits a tick above 2.00, Luzardo was pacing with one of the game's greatest starting pitchers over his first 10 starts as a Phillie.