None of it mattered once the Phillies got rolling. Philadelphia jumped out 3-0 in the first, added 4 more in the third and closed the door with another 4-spot in the sixth, piling up 15 hits against a Cardinals staff that had no answers. Alec Bohm and Edmundo Sosa both drove in early runs to set the tone, and St. Louis never threatened, managing just 7 hits and getting shut out in 5 of the game's 9 innings.
This was the fifth straight win for Philadelphia, a stretch that includes a sweep of the Marlins and a win over Minnesota before St. Louis even came to town. The Cardinals, meanwhile, are stuck in the mud — 2-3 in their last 5, having dropped a wild back-and-forth series in Cincinnati before running into a Phillies club that's clicking on every level.
The injury gap between these two clubs is stark right now. St. Louis is missing a starting shortstop, watching two rotation arms head to the IL in the span of a day, and now nursing a fear about a fractured hand in the outfield. Philadelphia's concerns look minor by comparison — Luis Arraez is banged up but still went 2-for-4 with a homer his last time up, and the bigger absences (Johan Rojas, Adolis Garcia, Brad Keller) have already been factored into the roster for weeks.
A 12-3 final and a 9-run margin says everything about where these two franchises are trending as August winds down. Philadelphia keeps finding ways to win with a shaky rotation behind it, while St. Louis is bleeding pitching depth at the worst possible time. These teams don't appear to be scheduled to meet again in this set, so the Cardinals will need to regroup fast against whoever's next.