Phillies finally win first game, topping Yankees, 4-1, behind solid pitching and Schwarber’s 200th homer

NEW YORK — A few hours before game time Tuesday, Brandon Marsh took stock of the energy around the Phillies clubhouse. They were 0-4 to start the season, but he wasn’t too concerned.

“I don’t see any frowns,” the center fielder said. He looked over at left-hander Matt Strahm, who was sitting across the room, preparing for his start against the Yankees that night.

“We got ‘Pastrami’ on the bump today,” Marsh said. “I’m ready to watch him compete. And play some better defense behind him. He’s the man. I’ll go to war with that dude any day.”

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Strahm didn’t disappoint. In his first start since Aug. 17, 2021 — when he threw just one inning as an opener for the Padres — the left-hander gave the Phillies four shutout innings of one-hit, one-walk ball en route to a 4-1 win over the Yankees.

In the fourth inning, he struck out Aaron Judge, then let out a yell toward the Yankees dugout.

It wasn’t because Strahm had struck out the reigning AL MVP. It was because he had misplaced his slider.

“Did it feel good? I was cussing myself afterwards,” Strahm said. “It didn’t feel very good hanging one and getting away with it. But better lucky than good sometimes.”

Strahm concedes that he is a perfectionist, which is why his last extended stint as a starter, in 2019 with San Diego, was so frustrating for him. Strahm had a five-pitch arsenal at his disposal, but found himself over-thinking. He’d try to save certain pitches for later at-bats, and realized that he wasn’t throwing pitches the same way he did out of the bullpen.

“I wasn’t throwing with conviction,” said Strahm, who joined the Phillies as a free agent in December by signing a two-year, $15 million contract. “I personally think the right pitch is the one with the most conviction. It might not be the right pitch to that batter, but in that moment that’s where I feel strong. I’ll fight fire with fire every day.”

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Strahm ended that 2019 season with a 5.29 ERA through 16 starts. This spring, the Phillies gave him the opportunity to give it another try. When starter Ranger Suárez was diagnosed with a left elbow strain in mid-March, it was Strahm they turned to, to fill Suárez’s spot. Strahm was excited, and rightfully so.

As a reliever who had just three weeks to hastily build his workload up, he was perhaps the last person the Phillies expected to give them four innings of scoreless ball. But on Tuesday night, in front of 35,392 raucous fans at Yankee Stadium, he showed he had learned something from that disappointing 2019 season. He wasn’t tentative. He wasn’t holding himself back. Instead, he pitched with conviction.

“I refuse to call myself a reliever, or a starter,” said Strahm, who was given a 65-pitch limit and finished with 61, including 42 strikes. “I’m just a pitcher. So, whatever they need, and whenever they need it, I’m down to do it.”

The Phillies cobbled together 10 hits on Tuesday night. Four of their nine hitters had multi-hit games: Jake Cave, Bryson Stott, Trea Turner, and Kyle Schwarber. Marsh hit his first home run of the season in the third inning, a 436-foot shot to center field.

Both Turner and Schwarber had two-out RBI singles in the fifth inning.

The Phillies pitching staff as a whole only allowed four hits and one run against a formidable Yankees lineup. The bullpen — Andrew Bellatti, José Alvarado, Connor Brogdon and Craig Kimbrel — only allowed three hits, one walk, and one run.

Things got a little exciting in the ninth. Kimbrel induced a flyout from Anthony Volpe, followed by a DJ LeMahieu home run. From there, he allowed a walk, a flyout, and a single to put runners on first and second with two outs. But with the tying run at the plate, he retired Josh Donaldson on a foul pop to end the game.

“Kimbrel bent, but he didn’t break,” manager Rob Thomson said of the bullpen. “The job that Alvarado, Bellatti and Brogdon did was just phenomenal. You can’t walk people, and we didn’t tonight. You can walk a few here and there, but at the rate we were going [in the first four games], it wasn’t going to be very good for us.”

Schwarber set the tone early. In the first inning, he hit a home run 415 feet to right-center field to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. It was his first home run of the season, and the 200th of his career.

“It feels good, but I think the biggest thing is to start with a lead,” he said. “I think the personal accomplishments, those things will come after you’re done playing. It’s a cool stat. But happy about the win.”

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