Designated hitter Kyle Schwarber’s grand slam added a much-needed spark for the struggling first-place Phillies.
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber is embraced by J.T. Realmuto after hitting a grand slam during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN
After losing four straight games, including Monday night’s shutout loss at the hands of the last-place Miami Marlins, things looked bleak for the first-place Philadelphia Phillies.
Miami jumped out a 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a three-run home run by first baseman Jonah Bride off Phillies starting pitcher Tyler Phillips. The crowd booed as if it were saying, “Here we go again.”
Luckily for the Phightins, they would have the fans cheering in sheer joy by the end of the night. Thanks to a 9-5 victory, the team got by, well, continuing to fight.
“It’s a good feeling. We had two three-run deficits, and we came back,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “The guys didn’t quit, and they kept fighting and showed their resilience again.”
Kyle Schwarber’s grand-slam homerun in the bottom of the fourth inning off Marlins starting pitcher Edward Cabrera turned the tide. For the game, Cabrera gave up six runs on six hits in four innings.
The Phillies added three more insurance runs, and the Phillies bullpen combo of Jose Ruiz, Matt Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, Jose Alvarado, and Carlos Estevez allowed just two hits in the final five innings.
“Our bullpen did a heckuva job,” Thomson said.
Instead of following a script that would have led to their fifth straight loss overall and sixth straight loss at home, the Phillies fought back and gradually clawed their way back into the game. In the bottom of the second, Phillies shortstop Edmundo grounded into a 6-4-3 double-play that scored Bryson Stott from third to cut the deficit to 3-1.
That was a start because it would be a couple of innings before the Phils could be able to get it back in one fell swoop.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Phillies manufactured another run when center fielder Johan Rojas started the inning with a walk. He then stole second and was moved to third on a ground out to second by designated hitter Kyle Schwarber.
After a Nick Castellanos walk, Bryce Harper’s out on a grounder from second to first enabled Rojas to score from third. That cut the deficit to 3-2.
But the Marlins came back in their half of the fourth inning with a pair of runs. An RBI single by Jesus Sanchez and a sacrifice fly by Bride scored shortstop Xavier Edwards and designated hitter Jake Burger, respectively. The Marlin had taken a 5-2 lead before Schwarber’s big blow enabled the Phillies to take control of the game.
With the way the Phillies have been struggling lately, Schwarber’s blast put some life into the crowd at Citizen’s Bank Park.
More importantly, the homer injected some life into a team that has been struggling to keep their collective heads above water since the All-Star break. The Phillies have won just eight of their last 24 games.
“I think it was just more energy. You could feel it in the stadium,” Schwarber said. “I felt that was a cool thing. I feel like our guys doing a really good job of weathering whatever’s happened the last couple of weeks where we haven’t been playing our best baseball. We have a really good group of guys in this clubhouse. We got the right guys to get through this and come out better for it.”
The Phillies will be entertaining the Washington Nationals this weekend in hopes of continuing their winning ways. You can catch those games on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
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