PHILADELPHIA — Lawrence Butler hit three home runs for the first time in his big league career and Brent Rooker and Seth Brown each added two homers as the Oakland Athletics routed the first-placed Philadelphia Phillies 18-3 on Sunday.
Butler also had a career-high six RBIs. Rooker tied his career high with five RBIs for Oakland, which entered with the fourth-fewest wins in baseball and trailing Seattle by 16 games in the AL West.
The Athletics’ eight home runs, which tied a franchise record, were estimated at a combined 3,340 feet.
Zack Gelof hit a grand slam off Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs in the ninth inning.
Trea Turner homered for the Phillies. Philadelphia began play with the most wins in baseball and ahead of the Braves by 9½ games in the NL East. The Phillies were trying to extend their club record of 62 victories before the All-Star Game and match the 1973 and ’74 Dodgers for the most NL wins before the break.
Alec Bohm had a pair of doubles for the Phillies to up his MLB-leading total to 33. Turner and Bohm are two of Philadelphia’s franchise-record eight All-Stars.
Joey Estes (4-4) allowed two earned runs on four hits in six strong innings.
It was just Philadelphia’s third home series loss and first since losing consecutive series to Atlanta and Cincinnati to open the season.
Butler hit three two-run shots in the fifth, seventh, and eighth. The last of the trio went 449 feet into the second deck in right-center field.
Rooker completed a red-hot three games in Philadelphia in which he went 7 for 12 with a double, three homers, and seven RBIs. He launched his first shot 450 feet over the batter’s eye in center field in the fourth off Michael Mercado (1-2) and then drove a Mercado 94-mph, four-seamer into Ashburn Alley, which is the walkway beyond the outfield. That home run traveled an estimated 452 feet.
Turner put the Phillies ahead by sending a 2-2, 81-mph slider from Estes over the wall in left to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead. It was the eighth home run in 12 games for Turner, who upped his season total to 11. He missed 38 games with a left hamstring strain.
Following the All-Star break, both teams return to action Friday night. Philadelphia travels to Pittsburgh while Oakland hosts the Los Angeles Angels.
