Noah Syndergaard fired seven-plus strong innings and Edmundo Sosa drove in three runs with two hits as the visiting Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 on Monday night.

Syndergaard (7-8) struck out six and allowed three runs on eight hits and no walks in just 77 pitches. Seranthony Dominguez pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save.

Sosa also made several stellar plays at third base for the Phillies, who won their 17th straight game when scoring at least four runs. The Reds fell for the sixth time in seven games.

Nick Castellanos, in his first game back in Cincinnati since leaving for Philadelphia as a free agent before the season, went 1-for-5 with an RBI single and two strikeouts.

Before the game, Cincinnati manager David Bell presented Castellanos with the Ernie Lombardi Award as the 2021 Cincinnati Reds’ team MVP, as voted on by writers.

The Reds grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Michael Papierski laced a two-out, two-run single to center, scoring Albert Almora Jr. and Matt Reynolds.

The Phillies responded immediately in the third with a two-out rally off Cincinnati starter Mike Minor (1-10).

Castellanos singled under Kyle Farmer’s glove at third to plate Alec Bohm to cut the deficit to 2-1. Minor intentionally walked Jean Segura to load the bases to face the light-hitting Sosa, who was batting just .191 entering Monday’s game.

Sosa made Minor pay with a line-drive single to left that scored J.T. Realmuto and Castellanos for a 3-2 Philadelphia lead.

The three runs in the third were more than Philadelphia scored in its previous three games combined, including shutout losses to the New York Mets on Saturday and Sunday.

Sosa added an RBI double in the fifth to make it 4-2 before Cincinnati’s Jake Fraley connected for his fourth homer in the eighth, a solo shot to left-center field that chased Syndergaard from the game.

David Robertson entered the game and allowed a one-out single by Farmer before Joey Votto grounded into a 4-5-3 double play that preserved the one-run lead heading into the ninth.

Minor yielded four runs on 10 hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out four.

Cincinnati second baseman Jonathan India was a late scratch from the lineup as he continues to recover from a deep bruise on his left shin sustained in the Field of Dreams game last Thursday.

–Field Level Media