PHILADELPHIA — Earlier this season, it appeared the Phillies found their answer in center field.
Then Odúbel Herrera went cold.
He suffered an injured left ankle and he stopped hitting in July. He played less and ultimately fell out of the leadoff spot. But Herrera seems to be heating up again. He sparked the Phillies to a 7-0 victory over the D-backs on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, moving them to 65-64 and possibly 4 1/2 games behind the Braves (69-58) in the National League East, pending the result of Atlanta’s game against the Giants.
Herrera ripped a 1-1 slider off the right-field wall for a leadoff double in the first inning. He moved to third on Jean Segura’s infield single and scored on Bryce Harper’s broken-bat sacrifice fly to right field to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead.
Herrera crushed a 2-0 fastball into the second deck in right for a solo homer in the third to make it 3-0. Segura followed with a solo homer to make it 4-0. It was plenty for Kyle Gibson, who pitched six scoreless innings.