Fueled again by Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, the Phillies’ bats stay hot to win series over Mets
The Phillies have now scored a total of 44 runs on 60 hits in winning four games out of six against the Marlins and Mets. Next up, a four-game series in Washington.
They gathered at the usual time (shortly before 3 p.m.), in the usual spot (around home plate) for early batting practice. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm were there; J.T. Realmuto, too.
Before long, Bryce Harper joined them. Again.
What else did you expect? Yes, the Face of the Phillies prefers the indoor cage for his pregame swings. But Harper felt like launching balls into the seats Saturday and wound up hitting for the cycle a few hours later.
Only a fool would do anything differently.
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So, there was Harper, hitting on the field again Sunday, and sticking with his 35-ounce “heavy” bat instead of the 31½-ounce model that he ditched the night before. And guess what? Yep, he got three more hits — a triple short of another cycle — in a 6-2 rubber-game victory over the Mets that was powered by another titanic Kyle Schwarber homer.
“I don’t know if that’s translating to the game,” Harper said of the early hitting, the heavier lumber, and seven hits in his last nine at-bats. “Obviously the last two days have been great.”
Surely, Harper wants to bottle this feeling.
But it isn’t only Harper. Or even Schwarber, who has blasted four homers in the last two games, leads the planet with 29, and is on pace to finish with 61, which would be a record for a franchise that has existed for 144 seasons.
As the Phillies capped a winning homestand and caught a train to Washington to play four games this week, the bats are finally revving up. In going 4-2 against the Marlins and Mets, they produced a total of 44 runs on 60 hits, including 11 home runs, five of which came from Schwarber and two from Harper.
“It’s pretty, pretty special,” Zack Wheeler said after allowing two runs in 5⅔ innings. “I mean, it’s pretty cool to see, you know? They’re capable of doing that every day. It’s crazy.
“And we have the guys around them, too, getting on base. They aren’t just solo home runs and stuff. We’re putting good at-bats together and looking like a good, total offense.”
The pitching, notably co-aces Cristopher Sánchez and Wheeler and star closer Jhoan Duran, carried the Phillies from a 9-19 start back into wild-card position.
» READ MORE: Is there a better duo in baseball than Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez? We asked the experts.
Now that they’re here, the offense is percolating, led by the Harper-Schwarber Show, just in time for summer.
“That’s kind of what we expect of ourselves as an offense, right?” Harper said. “When we get going and clicking like that, I think when me and Schwarbs have big swings or great at-bats, we’ve got a chance to win games.”
The Phillies won the finale against the Mets by taking advantage of mistakes early, scoring two first-inning runs without a hit out of the infield. Then came Schwarber’s three-run homer in the second inning and Harper’s solo in the fifth.
Harper also doubled in the second inning and singled in the seventh. Was he hoping for one more at-bat to take a shot at another triple for another cycle?
“Absolutely,” he said, laughing. “I’m not going to lie to you. I wanted that last go-around, yeah. No, it was definitely in my head.”
Take a moment to wrap your head around Schwarber’s latest power binge. After launching 456- and 457-foot missiles halfway up the second deck Saturday night, he returned to that territory against Mets lefty David Peterson.
Schwarber hit 46, 47, 38, and 56 homers in his first four seasons with the Phillies. His best power numbers through 77 games: 23 homers, .530 slugging, .909 OPS last year.
This season: 29 homers, .603 slugging, .972 OPS.
There’s no telling how many more Schwarbombs will drop before the All-Star break.
“It is June,” Wheeler said.
And everyone knows Schwarber has hit more homers in his career in June (74) than any other month.
Wheeler, meanwhile, kept rolling in his remarkable return from thoracic outlet syndrome. He sidestepped back-to-back singles to open the second inning and shrugged off Carson Benge’s leadoff homer in the third.
After Wheeler walked the bases loaded with one out in the sixth, and with his pitch count up to 101, interim manager Don Mattingly went to the mound.
“Do you have one more hitter?” Mattingly asked.
Wheeler nodded.
“I was a little tired, but I wasn’t too tired to just keep going,” said Wheeler, who has a 2.11 ERA through 11 starts. “I was honest with [former manager] Rob [Thomson], and I’ll be honest with him. I felt like I had more in me.”
» READ MORE: ‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Caleb Cotham talks Cristopher Sanchez's dominance, Zack Wheeler's return, and more
Wheeler got a ground ball and a force at second base before Jonathan Bowlan struck out Marcus Semien to finish the inning.
But offense was the theme of the week. And Saturday night, as Harper (cycle) and Schwarber (three homers) put on dueling talent shows against the Mets, Wheeler stood in the dugout and caught himself marveling at all of it.
“It’s hard to kind of take a step back while you’re actually playing and in the moment as somebody watching,” Wheeler said. “You hear about all the greats before you, so to speak, and you watched them as a fan. But I’m actually here watching these guys do some magic and do something special.
“And it’s gone on a long time now. They’re putting together unbelievable careers, and it’s fun to be present and watch it happen live.”
The Harper-Schwarber show, featuring heavy bats and thunderous homers, went on all weekend. The Phillies are counting on an extended run.
Father's Day will hit a little differently this year for Don and Preston Mattingly. After years of working in baseball for different teams, often on opposite sides of the country, they are together with the Phillies as the first father-and-son manager-and-GM combination ever. Preston Mattingly joins Phillies Extra to discuss working with his dad, as well as the Phillies' decision to demote Andrew Painter to the minors and their preparations for the trade deadline. Watch here.
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