Phillies get a Bryce Harper scare, but win series over Blue Jays behind Kyle Schwarber and Cristopher Sánchez

TORONTO — The Phillies started off this road trip on a good foot — completing a two-game sweep of the Blue Jays with a 4-2 victory that extended their winning streak to four games — but there were a few reasons for concern. Injury reasons, specifically.

Alec Bohm hasn’t played in the past five games, as he recovers from left hand soreness. Bryce Harper was taken out of Wednesday’s game, having been hit by a pitch on his left elbow in the first inning. Nick Castellanos was hit by a pitch in the leg late in Tuesday’s game, and Brandon Marsh was hit by a pitch in the rib area in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s game.

In short: The Phillies are a little banged up. It doesn’t help that they will play this entire road trip on turf. Miami’s turf is older, and particularly unforgiving on joints. But manager Rob Thomson is going to manage it as best he can.

“I’m always concerned about health,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on. And really, it doesn’t matter what time of the year we’re in, whether it’s spring training, early in the season, midseason, late in the season. We need healthy bodies. So, we check everybody every day now.”

Harper stayed in the game to play the field for two innings but left before his next turn to bat, with what the Phillies called a left elbow contusion. It’s not what you want to hear from a player who recently told MLB.com he was grinding through right wrist and elbow irritation, but he said afterwards that he is “good.”

Thomson described the decision to pull him out of the game as “more precautionary,” adding that Harper could have continued on if he really had to. Harper played it down. He said that he didn’t believe he would benefit much from a day or two off, adding that in the past it hasn’t helped him much.

“I feel like there’s times where you kind of feel worse because you’re not moving or anything like that,” Harper said. “So, I think I just got to keep it going.”

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Injury scares aside, it was another good win for a team looking to make its path to the playoffs as smooth as possible.

Kyle Schwarber hit a leadoff home run in the first — after hitting three home runs less than 24 hours earlier in Tuesday’s 10-9 victory. Wednesday’s homer ties him with former Yankee Alfonso Soriano (2003) for most leadoff home runs in a single season (13).

Cristopher Sánchez, who started for the Phillies on Wednesday, appreciated it.

“In my case, it makes me feel like they have my back,” he said of Schwarber’s home run. “It makes me feel more relaxed whenever I get on the mound.”

Kody Clemens added a two-run homer in the second and J.T. Realmuto added an insurance run with a solo shot in the ninth.

After a rocky start, Sánchez settled in. He allowed three consecutive doubles that resulted in two runs in the first inning, but didn’t allow another run. He finished his day at seven innings pitched, allowing six hits and no walks with seven strikeouts on 96 pitches.

Both Sánchez and Thomson credited catcher Realmuto with guiding the left-hander toward making an in-game adjustment to his changeup.

“His changeup was cutting in the first inning, and J.T. made that trip, and remained him to get on top of the changeup,” Thomson said. “And reminded him that it was cutting, and he made the adjustment immediately. And he sailed from there on.

“That’s the thing about Sanchy’s growth and maturity. A few years ago, if he had that first inning like that, he would’ve just crumbled. But now he’s matured. He understands he needs to stay with the process, breathe, keep your poise, and he did that.”

After a heavy bullpen night the night before, Thomson used just two relievers on Wednesday: Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez. Hoffman allowed no hits with one strikeout, while Estévez allowed no hits, and one walk with two strikeouts.

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The Phillies’ magic number to win the NL East is 17. Entering Wednesday night, they had a 7½-game lead over the Braves in the division. But Harper isn’t taking anything for granted.

“Everybody goes through bumps and bruises during the season,” he said. “It’s that time of year, kind of. So, obviously we’re not far enough in this division to be able to take the days [off] and do those kinds of things. Maybe once we get there, hopefully we’ll have a couple of days.

“But obviously we want to win this division. We want to be able to check off that main goal of ours to do that and once we get there, we’ll see.”