Max Kepler drives in five runs as revived outfield leads Phillies past the Mets, 11-3

Harrison Bader has played for the Phillies for all of 41 days, and already, he has a catchphrase.

What a gift.

It’s a gift, Bader says, that the Twins traded him to a World Series contender. He says it so often that it’s become an inside joke. After Kyle Schwarber hit his 50th homer of the season this week, manager Rob Thomson gave a clubhouse toast in which he called the slugger “a gift.” Everyone laughed.

But the Phillies were gifted something, too. Because since Bader’s arrival, one of the least productive outfields in baseball has been among the best. Look no further than back-to-back pitches in the fifth inning Wednesday night.

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With the Phillies nursing a one-run lead, Brandon Marsh ripped an RBI double and scored on a first-pitch, broken-bat single from Max Kepler, who then broke the bat in half over his thigh, a figurative exclamation mark on another pounding of the Mets, 11-3, to stretch the division lead to … get this … 10 games.

“That was a [tough guy] moment,” Kepler said after the Phillies won their third game in a row — and six of seven, and 10 of 13 — and reduced their magic number to seven to clinch the National League East crown. “It’s just, in the moment, I wanted to let that out and smash my bat over my thigh, or my quad. I don’t know what got into me there.”

What got into Kepler? He’s feeling confident, that’s what. Finally.

Kepler finished with five RBIs, a season-high and the most runs he has plated in a game since 2016. He singled in the fifth and sixth innings, then homered in the eighth, and is 23-for-75 (.307) with 16 RBIs in his last 20 games.

Again, this is Max Kepler, whose place on the roster seemed tenuous at times during the summer because he was barely batting .200 with an OPS that dipped as low as .645.

“I think there’s a switch that happens halfway, kind of once the trade deadline ends and you see who’s in the room and what we have to work with,” said Kepler, now batting .221 with a .698 OPS. “I think after the trade deadline everyone kind of takes a breather, and it’s like, ‘OK, now we’re here. This is who we have for the long run.’”

The deadline brought order to the outfield, with Thomson plugging in Bader as the center fielder. Marsh got pushed to left field and Kepler to right when the Phillies face a right-handed starter; Weston Wilson and Nick Castellanos play left and right against lefties.

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It could have gotten messy, considering Castellanos has started the second-most games of any outfielder since 2016. (Kepler, incidentally, has started the most.)

But Bader hasn’t stopped hitting since the trade. And the outfield platoon/rotation — “You can call it whatever you want,” Thomson said last week — has brought out the best in Kepler and Marsh, too.

Bader set the tone again by singling and scoring in a two-run first inning against Mets starter Clay Holmes. Marsh, who has hiked his average by 25 points to .287 since the deadline, finished with three hits and two RBIs.

Through July 31, Phillies outfielders were batting .239 with a .679 OPS. Since then, they were batting .278 with an .800 OPS — and that was before Wednesday night, when Bader, Marsh, and Kepler combined for eight hits and seven RBIs and five runs behind Cristopher Sánchez, who delivered six more solid innings to lower his ERA to 2.57.

“The addition of Bader has really helped,” Thomson said. “It’s doing a couple of things. He’s hot right now, so he’s getting on base. He’s swinging the bat, plays a good defense. And it gives the other guys a day off, and I think that at this time of year, I think that’s beneficial to them.”

Only because they’re utilizing their days off, according to Kepler.

Before this season, Kepler said he would “relax” on the rare days when he didn’t play. But now that he isn’t playing as regularly, he spends more time in the batting cage than on the bench.

“Maybe it’s just seeing a baseball visually at a speed that you would in the game,” Kepler said. “And that just helps me be ready for the game when I am actually playing.”

Whatever the case, the Phillies have outscored the Mets, 21-6, in the first three games of the series. They’ll go for a rare four-game sweep on national television Thursday night.

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It’s a 180-degree turnaround from two weeks ago, when the Mets swept the Phillies in New York. Maybe that was a gift, too. Because even though the sky was never falling (the division lead over the Mets never dipped below four games), the Phillies have had their foot on the pedal ever since.

And it’s the outfield — the outfield! — that’s leading the way.

“It’s awesome,” Kepler said. “We grinded over in New York. We weren’t happy with what we did there. To win a series and hopefully get a sweep [Thursday] is all you can ask for.”