In their first game without the injured Bryce Harper, the Phillies all made it to base and Kyle Schwarber turned the afternoon off with one big hit in an 8-5 win.
The 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 from 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 difficult right-handed Yu Darvish, 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 was selected by Darwish three times and made 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 hitting second base.
Darwish walked out after six rounds and was promptly taken by the Feliz to Mukhlas Badris Nabil Krismat. Schwarber has been a powerhouse for a month, hitting .283/.403/.672 with 11 home runs, scoring 24 RBI and 25 points in his last 26 games. Velez will need Schwarber to stay hot and Castellanos for heat to make up for the loss of Harper, who fractured a thumb on Saturday night after being hit by a fastball 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 Monday, then have another tough set of 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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