Bryce Harper breaks homer drought, Kyle Schwarber goes deep twice in Phillies’ doubleheader sweep of the Padres

Bryce Harper circled the bases, nice and slowly for a change.

It had been a minute — 51 days, 41 games, 166 plate appearances, but hey, who was counting? — since his last uninterrupted lap. So, as he stepped on home plate in the fourth inning Saturday night and slapped hands with on-deck batter Alec Bohm, the face of the Phillies conceded a smile.

Mostly, Harper looked relieved.

“No,” he insisted later, after the Phillies swept a doubleheader at home — 6-4 by day, 9-4 by night over the underachieving Padres — for the first time since Sept. 18, 2020. “Everybody keeps talking about it, but it is what it is. I don’t go out there to hit homers.”

Let it be said that Kyle Schwarber powered the Phillies with homers in both games at sweltering, jam-packed Citizens Bank Park. Make a note, too, of what July 15, 2023, will forever mean to Johan Rojas. One day after getting called up from double A, he made a dazzling play in center field in his major league debut, then got his first hit (three, actually) and RBI (two) in his second game.

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper is ‘pretty close’ to playing first base for the Phillies, manager Rob Thomson says

The Phillies snapped a three-game losing spell by kicking into gear an offense that returned a little late from the All-Star break. After getting one hit with a runner in scoring position through the first 14 innings back, they came up with nine in the last 11 innings.

And as their star-laden, $250-million-payroll twin from San Diego kept slogging along at 44-49, the 50-42 Phillies stayed squarely in the chase for a wild-card spot with summer in full swing and the Aug. 1 trade deadline looming.

“I feel like it’s really hard to sweep a doubleheader,” said starter Taijuan Walker, who labored through five innings in the finale. “The boys showed up. The offense was really good today, both games.”

But Harper is always at the center of it all. And so it was again.

After getting a rare breather for most of the first game, he pinch-hit in the eighth inning with the Phillies trailing by one run and 43,712 paying customers standing and chanting “M-V-P!” The Padres must’ve wondered if it was October in South Philly again.

Harper didn’t reprise his pennant-clinching homer. Instead, he beat out an infield single, enabling Bryson Stott to score after dashing from first-to-third on the preceding hit. Up stepped Schwarber, who lined a single through the middle against funky lefty Tim Hill to drive in the go-ahead run in a rousing comeback.

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“Big hustle play by Harper,” Schwarber said. “Big hustle play by Stott going first to third. Great at-bats, all around.”

But Harper’s biggest swing came at night. Facing Padres lefty Ryan Weathers, he laid off a 95 mph fastball in the dirt, then launched a change-up into the Phillies’ bullpen, where closer Craig Kimbrel caught it barehanded.

If not for Rojas, Kimbrel’s grab might’ve been the Phillies’ best, if also the most ill-advised, of the day.

“It was stupid,” Harper said. “Already talked to him. It was terrible. You can’t do that. Nice catch. But I mean, come on, man.”

OK, back to the swing that ended the longest career homerless drought for one of the game’s most prolific sluggers. Harper can downplay it, but it’s significance wasn’t lost on the rest of the team, so much so that his teammates vacated the dugout as a goof when he returned from running around the bases.

“Everybody was rooting for him because they knew it was ... him,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He wanted to hit one because it had been a while, and that’s what he did. When he hit it, there was excitement in the dugout.”

In the bullpen, too. Harper forgot to signal the relievers during his home-run trot, as is the Phillies’ custom when a player homers. No biggie. He picked up the bullpen phone and called down.

“There’s times where I’ll say to the bullpen, ‘Hi,’ or whatever,” Harper said, chuckling, “and there’s times where I’ll call ‘em.”

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Trea Turner on his slow start: The game has ‘kicked my butt,’ but he knows a turnaround is coming

Whatever the case, if Harper is able to regain his power stroke — especially as he closes in on playing first base, likely early in the week — it would make a bigger difference than any hitter the Phillies could acquire at the deadline.

Schwarber’s three-run homer in the second game, which followed Garrett Stubbs’ bunt single and Rojas’ first hit, hoisted his team-leading total to 25 homers. Harper would have to go on a power binge to reach that number.

But the Phillies will hope that flipping the switch after 41 games is a good starting point.

“If you try to hit homers, it’s just not good,” Harper said. “Put a really good swing on a ball tonight and was able to get it out of there. Keep swinging and keep doing my thing.

“Those are two huge wins right there against a really good team.”

Trea Turner’s day began with a mental error at shortstop. It ended with him picking up four hits and reaching base six times.

With two out in the second inning of the opener, Turner charged Matthew Batten’s slow roller. Rather than taking the out at first, Turner flipped it behind his back to get a force at second. One batter later, Trent Grisham smashed a three-run homer.

“I don’t think he had a play [at first],” Thomson said.

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Upon further review, Turner disagreed. In a postgame radio interview, he said he didn’t realize he had as much time to get Batten at first base.

“If I had it back, watching the replay, I think I had a little bit more time at first,” Turner said. “After watching the replay, I want to do it over.”

Rojas’ center field defense lived up to the type in the first inning of his major league debut, with a leaping catch against the right-center field scoreboard and an on-the-fly throw to first base to double off a runner.

In the nightcap, he impressed with his bat.

After collecting his first hit in the fifth inning, he bunted for an RBI single in the sixth inning and drove in a run with a fly-ball single to center field in the seventh.

» READ MORE: Virtual reality: Johan Rojas used to create himself as a player in MLB video games and dream of playing in the big leagues. Now, he won’t have to pretend.

The Phillies believe infielder Edmundo Sosa avoided injury after getting hit by a pitch on the hand in the seventh inning of the second game. Sosa initially stayed in the game before leaving with what Thomson described as a “cramp.”

Sosa is expected to be reevaluated Sunday.