Craig Kimbrel helps Phillies hold off Padres comeback in 9-7 win

SAN DIEGO — The Phillies should have never been in this position to begin with. They had an 8-1 lead over the Padres after three innings on Monday, and a 9-4 lead after five. But their bullpen, which carried them over their first half of the season, has not carried them over the past few weeks. That put José Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel in the unenviable position of having to avoid the Phillies’ first seven-run collapse since Aug. 29, 2022.

It wasn’t the prettiest process, but Kimbrel and Alvarado — who were both pitching on back-to-back days — got the job done in a 9-7 Phillies win. Kimbrel entered in the eighth. He had to retire the top of the Padres’ lineup, and for a moment, it looked like he might not do that.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto drew back-to-back one out walks. They worked a double steal to put runners on third and second. But Kimbrel powered through. He struck out Manny Machado — a career .310 hitter with runners in scoring position — and induced a groundout from Xander Bogaerts to end the inning.

Bryson Stott and Cristian Pache waited for the reliever as he walked off the mound. Kimbrel’s teammates crowded around the dugout to salute him. It was well deserved. He was not in an easy situation. In the span of 1⅓ innings, relievers Andrew Bellatti and Gregory Soto allowed three earned runs. Taijuan Walker allowed four in his five innings.

But Kimbrel and Jeff Hoffman, who entered in relief of Soto, kept the Padres at bay. Alvarado, who allowed two walks to start his outing but earned the save in the ninth, did too. He gained confidence as his outing went on. He likes to talk to himself on the mound, to remind himself to attack the strike zone, and that is what he did on Monday. After he struck out Luis Campusano for his second out, he let out a yell.

When Alvarado struck out Ha-Seong Kim to end the game, he pumped his fist in the air and yelled some more.

“When I am on the mound, I say to myself, you are the best,” Alvarado said. “Again, when I attack the strike zone, and I throw strikes, it’s like, ‘Good luck.’ I was happy the manager gave me that situation.”

It wasn’t perfect, but it got the job done. Kyle Schwarber likens it to hitting. Sometimes you’re hot, and sometimes you have to grind it out, and this is a moment where the bullpen will have to grind it out. But the good news, for the Phillies, is that the offense is giving them a lot of leash to do that.

“They went out there and they pitched their butts off for a long time now,” Schwarber said. “Just because there are some higher scoring games doesn’t mean they aren’t doing a great job. Taijuan grinds through five innings. That’s huge for us. And the way Hoffman is throwing the ball, that’s huge for us. Alvarado is going to be just fine. Seranthony [Domínguez] is going to be just fine. Soto, all of these other guys are going to be just fine.

“If we’re able to help them out a little bit, even if they might not be at their ‘best,’ that’s a good thing for us. That’s why it’s a team. The more we help each other out, we pick each other up, we get to where we need to be. Anything can happen from there.”

Unlike Sunday in Milwaukee, when the Phillies didn’t record a hit through six innings, they attacked right away on Monday. Rich Hill, making his fifth start for the Padres after being traded at the Aug. 1 deadline, couldn’t finish the second inning. The 43-year-old lefty allowed a leadoff walk to Schwarber, a single to Trea Turner, another walk to Bryce Harper, a three-RBI double to Alec Bohm, and a two-out single to Stott in the first.

He allowed a solo home run to Edmundo Sosa in the second, a single to Schwarber, and a two-run home run to Turner to give the Phillies an early 6-1 lead. Castellanos hit a double in the next at-bat. Hill struck out Harper for his first out of the second inning before Padres manager Bob Melvin gave him the hook.

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Hill entered his outing with an 8.50 ERA for San Diego. He’s not in his prime (and as the oldest player in baseball, he shouldn’t be). But it was still a sign of progress for a lineup that only recorded two earned runs through five innings the last time they faced him, on July 30.

Even more encouraging was that the Phillies continued to hit after Hill exited the game — up and down the lineup, and in myriad ways. They’ve now hit home runs in 17 straight games and have hit multiple home runs in seven straight games, but on Monday, they also combined for 16 hits and showed patience at the plate.

Turner extended his hitting streak to 15 games. He’s also hit seven home runs in his last seven games. Schwarber hit his 40th home run of the season in the fifth, but the Phillies got contributions from the bottom of their lineup, too.

Stott, who bats seventh, went 4-for-5 after going hitless in Milwaukee. Their eight-hole hitter, Pache, hit an RBI triple in the third. Sosa, who bats ninth, went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. It was a well-rounded offensive barrage.

Schwarber’s home run — which may have evoked memories of his towering home run that landed in the right upper deck of Petco Park in Game 1 of the 2022 NLCS — marked his second straight 40-home run season.

“I’ve always been a guy who hit home runs and got to 30 a couple of times before,” he said. “Last year, I got a chance to have a pretty much healthy full season and was able to get to 40. And it’s a cool accomplishment to be able to do it again this year. I think the more important thing is to keep helping the team win and keep winning games.”

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Walker won his 15th game of the season. His velocity wasn’t as down as much it was in his last start, on Aug. 28, but he was less efficient with his pitches and struggled with his control. Walker needed 103 pitches to get through five innings on Monday, allowing three walks.

After allowing a solo home run to Tatis in the first inning, he didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, allowing an RBI single and a two-RBI single to cut the Padres’ deficit from 8-1 to 8-4. In all, he allowed five hits, four earned runs, three walks and one home run with four strikeouts in his five innings of work.

But Walker’s issues seemed like a footnote compared to the bullpen’s, which allowed five walks through four innings of work.

“The thing that upsets me is our leadoff walks,” said manager Rob Thomson. “And the amount of walks we had today. When you have a big lead like that you have to go after people. You just have to. If they beat you by putting the ball in play, then they beat you. But you can’t give them free passes.”

It’s something they’ll keep working on. Schwarber, for one, is not concerned.

“I think we’ve seen it where they’ve been one of the more dominant bullpens in the game,” he said. “There’s no concern from us. It’s the game of baseball, where, you know what, you’re going to go through times — just like hitting — you’re going to go through times where you’re hot, and you’re going to go through times where you might not feel like you’re at your best, but you have to grind through things.

“If you told me that we were taking that bullpen into a three-game set, I’d put them up with the best of them. So, I don’t think there’s any concern on our part. We’ve got all the faith in those guys in the backend.”