Kyle Schwarber’s three homers propel Phillies to series win over Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — Kyle Schwarber does not relish his personal accomplishments — at least, not publicly. He is a team guy, and would much rather talk about his teammates, which is one of the many reasons they love him. But on a night when he went 4-for-4 with seven RBIs, three home runs, a double, and a walk, it was hard to avoid the attention.

The Phillies DH tried his best. After Wednesday’s 9-4 win gave the Phillies a series victory over the Dodgers, a throng of media surrounded Schwarber in a hallway adjacent to the clubhouse. He was peppered with questions about his big night, and what it meant to him, and he consistently rerouted each query.

One reporter asked if it was night he’d always remember. “I’m sure it’ll be a memory,” he said, “but I think the biggest thing is getting us a series win there against a really quality opponent.” He then proceeded to shout out rookie pitcher Tyler Phillips, the entire bullpen for not allowing a run, and outfielder Johan Rojas for making a highlight-reel play in the fourth inning.

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Backup catcher Garrett Stubbs stood a few feet away, with a wide grin on his face. After the scrum was done, he put his arm around his teammate.

“That’s our guy,” he said of Schwarber.

While Schwarber was reluctant to shower himself with praise, his teammates were more than happy to do it for him. After his second home run, which came in the sixth inning, Phillips said Schwarber approached him in the dugout.

“He was like, ‘That was huge, you kept us in the game,’” Phillips said. “‘And I’m like, ‘Dude, you just kind of gave us the lead. That was huge what you did.’ He’s like, ‘Nah, you understand.’ We were almost like getting into an argument. I was like, ‘Dude, you’re having an unbelievable night right now, you’ve helped us out a lot here.’”

Outfielder Nick Castellanos put it more succinctly.

“Stud,” he said, when asked what he thought of Schwarber’s night.

Reliever Jeff Hoffman, who was watching from the bullpen, made a prediction before Schwarber hit his two-run double in the fifth.

“I was like, ‘If he hits a home run right here, this is going to be the Kyle Schwarber legacy game,’” Hoffman said. “It still could be. Maybe it was. It was pretty impressive.”

As if hitting three home runs was not enough, Schwarber hit them to three entirely different spots. His first long shot — which came in the first inning — landed in the left field seats. His second, which came in the sixth, was to right center, and his third, in the ninth, went to center field.

“I don’t know how many times in person I’ve seen three homers, but I don’t think it’s more than 10,” Castellanos said.

There was a lot to celebrate in this one. The Phillies won their first series since the last time they played the Dodgers, in early July. After a tough first two innings, in which the defense was not supporting Phillips the way it should have, he began to pitch with conviction.

Phillips said he made an in-game adjustment — choosing to stay more in the zone, and lean more on his cutter — but credited a Castellanos pep talk with helping him, too.

“He just came over [after the second inning] and helped to try to settle me down,” Phillips said. “We’ve had plenty of talks about it. It’s just competing and throwing the ball over the plate.

“[He said] ‘Just go out there, man, compete, forget what’s happened. You’re getting weak contact. You’re making pitches. Just make sure you get ahead, and get these guys out. Keep competing. It’s one pitch at a time. Just go on to the next one.’”

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The talk resonated. Phillips allowed two runs in the first, two in the second, and didn’t allow a run for the rest of his night. He didn’t allow a hit after the third inning. He finished his day with the win, allowing four earned runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts over five innings.

“I thought he was great,” Castellanos said. “I thought it was a quality outing. Some hits fell here and there, but four runs could’ve been no runs, one run. Honestly I thought he competed his [expletive] off. And I thought he handled himself with good composure and kept us in a spot where we could come back and win the game.”

Rojas, who entered the game to replace the injured Austin Hays, helped Phillips with his outfield defense. With two outs in the fourth, Rojas ran toward the center field wall, leaped in the air, and slammed into it, with the ball firmly in his glove. He waved the Mutombo finger as he sat on the warning track.

Phillips waited by the dugout as Rojas jogged off the field. He gave him a hug, and asked him a question.

“Hey, did you know you were going to catch that?” He asked.

“Papi, you know me,” Rojas said.

“He just went all out for it,” Phillips said. “I really just wanted to lift him up and carry him off the field. It was awesome.”

A comical amount of things went the Phillies’ way, which must have been refreshing for them, given how things had been going recently. Manager Rob Thomson challenged three calls and all three were overturned. In the top of the sixth inning, Alec Bohm advanced to third base on a fielder’s choice. His foot collided with Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas, who was covering the bag, and it was ruled an interference error by umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did not agree, and was quickly ejected.

As if that weren’t enough drama, Castellanos, who went 2-for-2 with a walk, was hit by a pitch in the eighth. The pitch, a 97 mph fastball high and inside, almost caused a benches-clearing brawl. It hit Castellanos in the arm, jammed up, but was close to his head.

He had a sleeve on his wrist area after the game. He said he had a bruise, but emphasized that there isn’t cause for concern.

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“I don’t think that it was intentional,” Castellanos said. “I just told him that’s a big miss. Intentional or not intentional, I have something mid-90s come by my head, that should get anybody’s juices going.”

Matt Strahm hit Gavin Lux with a pitch in the bottom of the eighth. There was more chirping.

The Dodgers threatened a rally in the ninth. Yunior Marte allowed a single and a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. But he struck out Andy Pages, induced a popout from Shohei Ohtani, and got a groundout from Teoscar Hernández to end the game.

The Phillies will try to keep the momentum going. Castellanos doesn’t want to get too ahead of himself, but for now, the vibes are high.

“I think we have a game against Arizona tomorrow,” he said, “and the team is feeling good.”

Hays seemed to pull something while he was running to first base in the third inning. He was replaced by Rojas, who moved to center field. The Phillies described his injury as left hamstring tightness.

“We’ll check him [Thursday],” Thomson said of Hays. “He felt it grab. We’re not really sure.”