PHILADELPHIA -- - Max Kepler homered and drove in five runs, Bryce Harper also went deep and the Philadelphia Phillies moved closer to repeating as NL East champions by routing the New York Mets 11-3 on Wednesday night.

Cristopher Sánchez (13-5) allowed one run and four hits in six innings as the Phillies opened a 10-game lead over the second-place Mets with 16 to play. Philadelphia, which lowered its magic number to seven for clinching the division title, will try for a four-game sweep Thursday night.

Juan Soto launched his 39th homer and had three hits for the skidding Mets (76-70), who lost their fifth straight. They remained two games ahead of San Francisco for the final National League wild card.

Kepler went 3 for 4 and matched his RBI total for the entire month of July in

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