Philadelphia Phillies vs Arizona Diamondbacks Box Score on Aug 17, 2021

Josh VanMeter smacked a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the sixth inning to help the Arizona Diamondbacks register a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night in Phoenix.

Josh Rojas went 3-for-4 and had a run-scoring double for Arizona, which has won four of its past five games. VanMeter was 2-for-3, and the home run was his fourth of the season.

Bryce Harper homered for the Phillies, who have lost five of their past seven games. Philadelphia dropped to 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East race.

Arizona right-hander Taylor Widener and four relievers combined on a three-hitter despite the Diamondbacks owning the NL's highest earned-run average.

Widener, who had been out due to an illness, was activated from the injured list prior to the game and pitched five innings. He struck out five and gave up one run, two hits and three walks.

Diamondbacks left-hander Miguel Aguilar (1-1) followed and retired all four batters he faced to get the win. J.B. Wendelken recorded two outs in the seventh, Taylor Clarke pitched a perfect eighth and Tyler Clippard escaped a self-induced jam in the ninth to notch his third save.

Clippard allowed a one-out double to Brad Miller and walked Travis Jankowski with two outs. He was ahead 0-2 against pinch hitter Alec Bohm before unleashing a wild pitch to allow Philadelphia to move within one. Clippard retired Bohm on a fly to left on the next pitch to end it.

Phillies right-hander Kyle Gibson (8-5) allowed three runs and seven hits over six innings to drop to 2-2 in four outings since being acquired from the Texas Rangers. Gibson struck out five and walked two.

Gibson retired the first two batters in the sixth before he walked Christian Walker. VanMeter came up and lined a 2-2 slider that barely cleared the wall in right to give Arizona a 3-1 lead.

Harper accounted for the lone run off Widener when he belted a 3-1 fastball over the fence in right center with two outs in the third. The 424-foot blast was Harper's 22nd long ball of the season.

Didi Gregorius followed with a single, which was Philadelphia's last hit until Miller's ninth-inning double.

The Diamondbacks tied the score in the fifth. Daulton Varsho laced a leadoff double to right and scored when Rojas delivered a one-out double into the left-center-field gap.

--Field Level Media