Kyle Schwarber homers twice as Phillies ride early barrage for 13-7 win in series opener vs. Cubs
The Phillies scored runs in six out of eight innings and broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning.
Kyle Schwarber was trying to time up Cubs pitcher Javier Assad’s fastball in the first inning.
But when he saw a changeup out of the hand, Schwarber waited on it as long as he could. As the pitch dipped below the zone, he followed it, and his momentum on the swing took him down to one knee.
The ball went 414 feet to straightaway center.
“That’s the results whenever you’re out in front and you try to stay through it,” Schwarber said. “And you’re trying to work down to that ball there, and the knee goes down too. … That’s the thought process there, is just always trying to work to where with baseball’s being thrown.”
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The homer, over the head of a leaping Pete Crow-Armstrong, was one of two that Schwarber blasted in the Phillies 13-7 win over Chicago on Monday night. In his next plate appearance in the third inning, he hit a two-run shot to center. That time, he got a fastball.
Schwarber wasn’t the only one with a big offensive night, either. In all three games against the Diamondbacks in the previous series, the Phillies scored all their runs in one inning. On Monday, they scored runs in six out of eight innings.
Every starter except Justin Crawford recorded at least one hit, with Brandon Marsh and J.T. Realmuto racking up three apiece.
“I felt like the at-bats, up and down the lineup, were really great,” Schwarber said. “Stayed locked in, guys using the whole field, whatever it is, and staying within themselves.”
The offensive outburst helped starter Cristopher Sánchez, who pitched with some traffic on the bases by allowing six hits and three walks.
“I think it can get better,” Sánchez said. “I mean, the changeup can definitely be better. And the good thing is that I’m commanding my sinker, so it’s helping me a lot. And then my slider is good, so I’m able to throw those two pitches, even if my changeup is a little off.”
Even with his best pitch feeling off, Sánchez still got 10 whiffs and five of his eight total strikeouts with his changeup.
The Cubs only scored two runs on him, both coming in the fourth inning when Carson Kelly singled and Dansby Swanson homered to right on a sinker over the middle of the plate. But Sánchez rebounded immediately with three straight strikeouts, including Miguel Amaya and Crow-Armstrong on three pitches each.
“A lot of swing and miss, got ahead in the count,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Strike percentage was good. I thought they put some good at-bats on him. They laid off some really good changeups, drove his pitch count up.”
The Phillies broke the game open in the fifth, sending nine batters to the plate. Schwarber started things off by drawing a walk, and Bryce Harper and Adolis García singled to set the table for Marsh.
The day before, Marsh ended a potential Phillies rally by running into a double play after failing to return to first base when García popped out. But on Monday, he kept the rally going, coming through with a bases-loaded double that split the Cubs outfielders and drove in two runs.
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Alec Bohm, who had snapped an 0-for-17 skid when he singled in the third inning, hit a sacrifice fly to drive in another run. Bryson Stott and Realmuto kept the line moving with back-to-back RBI singles.
Schwarber said that he wasn’t surprised to see things start to turn around for his teammates who have been going through slumps.
“The words of Rhys Hoskins, it’s always stuck with me: ‘Just get to the plate,’” he said. “There’s always a chance when you get to the box. I know that these guys have been in here. They’ve been putting in the work. They’ve been doing a lot of great things in the cage and trying to prepare themselves to go out there and compete.”
Seth Johnson, recalled earlier on Monday with Jonathan Bowlan on the injured list, took over for Sánchez in the seventh inning. The Cubs put up five runs on Johnson in the eighth, though only four were earned. After some defensive substitutions for Trea Turner, Harper, and García with the Phillies up by 11, Edmundo Sosa took over at shortstop, Dylan Moore at first, and Otto Kemp in left, moving Marsh to right.
The Cubs had four hits against Johnson and drew a walk and a hit batsman, but a throwing error from Marsh and a fielding error from Bohm didn’t help matters. Orion Kerkering took over after Johnson’s pitch count reached 50 and struck out Ian Happ looking to end the inning. He pitched a scoreless top of the ninth to seal it.
Throughout their offensive struggles to begin the season, the Phillies had preached patience. Even now, after a season-high 15 hits and 13 runs, they know they can’t ease up.
“I think they needed it, just to breathe a little bit,” Thomson said. “But it’s just one day, and we have another one tomorrow, and got to come back with the same focus. It can’t feel like, ‘We’re back.’ You got to keep working and grinding and fighting and having good at-bats.”
Gage Wood might have pitched the best game in college baseball history 10 months ago. Now, with Andrew Painter in the majors, Wood is the Phillies’ top pitching prospect. The 22-year-old righty joins Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to discuss his strong start to the season. Watch here.
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