Phillies and Kyle Schwarber do the little (and big) things right in comeback win over the Marlins

At first, it seemed like Wednesday’s game against the Miami Marlins would result in another unsatisfying Phillies loss. Starter Tyler Phillips allowed a three-run home run in the first inning. A few at-bats later, center fielder Johan Rojas fielded a two-out single with a runner on first, and threw to the wrong base.

It was not the start the Phillies, losers of 18 of their last 26 going in, were looking for.

But they kept chipping away. Bryson Stott walked, and stole second, and J.T. Realmuto singled to put two runners on in the second inning. Edmundo Sosa hit into a double play that brought Stott home. Bryce Harper drove in another run with a forceout in the third.

The Marlins tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth, but in the bottom of the inning, the Phillies finally got the break they’d been waiting for. Kyle Schwarber stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. He took three pitches and launched the fourth 376 feet to left-center field for a grand slam and a 6-5 lead.

“It was huge,” said manager Rob Thomson. “We had a lot of good at-bats, I think. Schwarber seems to come up big home runs when we really need it. It was good to see.”

It gave his team a one-run lead and a much-needed cathartic release. Stott slammed the dugout railing with both of his hands in celebration. Austin Hays triumphantly lifted his arms in the air, as if to say, ‘Finally.’ A ballpark that had spent the last game-and-a-half booing was suddenly filled with raucous cheers.

The Phillies’ 9-5 victory over the Marlins was not the prettiest win. It was not the cleanest win. But it was a gritty win. After getting shut out Tuesday by Miami, one of the worst teams in the sport , they showed much more fight on Wednesday, to end a four-game losing streak.

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They did a lot of the little things right. The lineup collected more walks (four) than strikeouts (two) against Marlins starter Edward Cabrera. José Ruiz entered in relief of Phillips in the fifth, with Otto Lopez on second and one out. Lopez tagged up when Emmanuel Rivera flied out to Rojas, whose throw to third base was wide.

Luckily for the Phillies, Ruiz tracked Rojas’ throw perfectly and was in the right position to back up Alec Bohm at third base. Ruiz caught Rojas’ throw to prevent Lopez from scoring.

“That was huge,” Thomson said of Ruiz. “He was right where he was supposed to be.”

He struck out Ali Sánchez to end the inning.

The Phillies tacked on some insurance runs in the seventh. Harper hit a two-out double to put a runner on second, and Bohm drove him home with a single to center field — his 81st RBI of the season.

After going 0-for-4 on Tuesday — despite making some hard contact — Stott had a two-hit night. He hit a double to move Bohm to third base, and Realmuto drove both of them home with a double down the right-field line.

It was the Phillies’ best offensive night in a while. Like Stott, Marsh had been struggling, and like Stott, he recorded two hits, with both singles going to the opposite field. The Phillies totaled 13 hits, going 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

“It seems like as soon as we started to use the field, stay the other way, we started to score runs,” Thomson said of Stott and Marsh. “And Marsh had the two base hits the other way, one off of the lefty. J.T. had the big double down the right field line to score two runs.

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“You know, it’s a good feeling. We had two three-run deficits and came back. The guys didn’t quit. They kept fighting. Showed their resilience again.”

The bullpen looked as stable as it has in recent memory. Matt Strahm retired three Marlins in a row in the sixth. Jeff Hoffman — not far removed from a four-run outing in Seattle and a walk-off home run in Arizona on Aug. 9 — allowed just one hit with three strikeouts.

José Alvarado — who entered Wednesday with a 4.53 ERA — put runners on first and second with one out to face Jake Burger, but was able to escape the jam without any damage. Carlos Estévez pitched the ninth, striking out two in a 1-2-3 inning.

“Strahmy was good,” Thomson said. “Secondary pitches were really good. Hoffman’s slider was as good as I’ve seen it all year. And his velocity was up. Alvarado was fine. Ruiz did a great job getting out of that situation.

“We had the grand slam so we get momentum, and I didn’t want to lose the momentum, so that’s why I [took] Phillips [out]. He pitched fine. A little bit up in the zone more than normal, I thought. He battled through a lot of adversity, a lot of baserunners. I just thought it was time to go to Ruiz and try to end that inning. I thought he did a great job.”

It was one game, against a Marlins team that is 31 games below .500, but it was a start. Now, the Phillies will look to build upon it with a four-game series against the Nationals starting Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.

“I feel like our guys are doing a really good job of weathering whatever has happened the last couple of things, right?” Schwarber said. “Where we haven’t been playing our best baseball. We have a really good group of guys in this clubhouse. We have the right guys to get through this and come out better for it.”