In their first match without the injured Bryce Harper, all Phillies hitter made it to the base and Kyle Schwarber turned the afternoon off with a big hitter in an 8-5 win.
Three-stroke homer Homer Schwarber in the seventh inning brought the Phils back from under twice to win the series. They took three out of four of the Padres, who led the NL wild card race.
Bullpen Phillies deserve great credit for these two recent victories. From the sixth inning on Saturday through the eighth inning on Sunday, Phillies retired 34th Padres hitters in a row. Nick Nelson settled matters for Phils in the series finale with a perfect three after Kyle Gibson allowed five runs and failed to exit in the third.
In the 12 games since the Phillies have shook things up at the back end, knocking Corey Knebel out of the closing role, the Bullpen has a 2.89 ERA and 0.94 WHIP with a .164 opponents hitting average. Nebel played the seventh game on Sunday, Jose Alvarado scored the eighth and Andrew Bellati closed the match with Seranthone Dominguez apparently absent.
Velez’s attack took a solid approach against Yu Darvish’s tough right-hander, forcing him to make 102 throws through six rounds. His shortest outing was at six posts, a period during which Dervish owned 1.87 Era. Velez managed to score two goals from him in the second half and once in the fifth.
Nick Castellanos picked Darwish three times and had his first four-stroke game of the season. It was clear that Phils’ plan was working on Darvish and catcher Austin Nola with Castellanos, Odubel Herrera and Bryson Stott all beating out second base.
Darwish walked out after six rounds and was immediately taken by the Feliz to Mukhlas Badris Nabil Krismat. Schwarber has been a powerhouse for a month, hitting .283/.403/.672 with 11 homers, scoring 24 RBI and 25 points in his last 26 games. The Phillies will need Schwarber to stay hot and Castellanos to get warm to make up for the loss of Harper, who He suffered a broken thumb on Saturday night After being hit by a fast ball from Blake Snell.
Every starting Phillies but Didi Gregorius had a hit on Sunday and the team went 5 vs 11 with the sprinters in the scoring center. One of those hits, Garrett Stubbs’ single, brought home an important insurance run in the eighth inning. The Phils punched another on the ninth when Matt Ferling doubled, took a lead on Schwarber’s ground and scored on the wild.
The Phillies come home 39-35 after going 7-4 on a long road trip. They’re off on Monday, then have another set of tough matches with 12 of 15 against the Braves, Cardinals and Blue Jays. The Fells host Atlanta Tuesday through Thursday and St. Louis this weekend.
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