Rhys Hoskins homered twice and the visiting Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-1 in the opener of the four-game series on Monday afternoon.

Hoskins hit a two-run homer in the third and a solo shot in the eighth for Philadelphia, which came into Monday 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild card in the National League.

Scott Kingery and Bryce Harper also hit two-run homers for the Phillies, Harper's blast his 30th of the season.

Philadelphia left-hander Drew Smyly (3-6) bounced back after a winless August and allowed one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. Smyly, who has been released by two major league teams this season, struck out eight and walked three.

Jared Hughes relieved Smyly with a 4-1 lead and retired all five batters he faced before the Phillies expanded their lead.

Aristides Aquino had two hits, including a solo homer, and Nick Senzel and Jose Iglesias also two hits for Cincinnati.

Cincinnati starter Anthony DeSclafani (9-8) went seven innings, allowing four runs and three hits. The right-hander struck out eight and walked two.

DeSclafani walked Cesar Hernandez to start the second inning and Kingery hit a 1-2 slider over the fence in center for a 2-0 lead.

Aquino led off the bottom half of the second with a deep home run to left to cut the lead to 2-1.

Aquino is the first player to notch 15 home runs in his first 122 major league plate appearances. Hoskins previously held the major league record with 15 homers in his first 135 plate appearances.

Hoskins blasted his two-run shot in the third inning for the 4-1 lead. Hoskins is 8-for-17 with five extra-base hits in his last five games.

DeSclafani settled in and retired the next 13 batters, including the final four by strikeout. He was relieved by Wandy Peralta to start the eighth and surrendered back-to-back, two-out homers to Harper and Hoskins to make it 7-1.

The Reds played without third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who leads the team with 40 home runs and 87 RBIs. He left Sunday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals after getting hit by a pitch on his left hand. X-rays were negative.

--Field Level Media