Alec Bohm shines as Phillies slug four homers in 9-6 win over Rockies

DENVER — In the wake of a crushing late-inning loss here Tuesday night, Joe Girardi said the Phillies had to “do whatever it takes” to avoid getting swept by the Colorado Rockies.

All it took were 1,758 feet worth of home runs.

Billed before the season as the Broad Street Bashers, the Phillies’ power-packed offense finally lived up to the hype Wednesday. And it wasn’t aided by the thin Rocky Mountain air. Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber, and Johan Camargo blasted homers that would’ve left any ballpark in a 9-6 matinee victory at Coors Field.

“I think the biggest thing is not putting the pressure on ourselves,” Schwarber said after the Phillies finally won a game in the way they were built to win — by outslugging everything. “We’re a really good team. We should expect really good things out of us.”

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Still, the Phillies needed this. Badly. Almost as much as they need a break Thursday after opening the season with 13 games in 13 days and going 5-8, including 2-5 on the trip to Miami and Colorado.

But nobody needed it more than Bohm, who had his best all-around game since probably his 44-game rookie season in 2020.

It wasn’t merely the two-run homer off Rockies starter Germán Márquez — his first homer since last July — that gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning. Or the single in the sixth. Or the sacrifice fly in the seventh that stretched the lead to 6-4.

No, even Bohm conceded that his most satisfying moment came in the fourth inning, when he charged Brendan Rodgers’ slow roller, barehanded it, and made a strong, accurate throw to first base that beat him by less than half a step. Given his defensive shortcomings this season and throughout his career, Bohm needed to make a play like that.

“I have confidence in my hitting, I have confidence in my defense,” Bohm said. “But for all the work to come out and show on both sides of the ball, it’s definitely leaving the field happy.”

It was quite a contrast from 10 days ago. Bohm made three errors in the first three innings April 11 against the New York Mets and got cheered derisively by the home crowd after making a routine play. He was caught on camera telling shortstop Didi Gregorius, “I [expletive] hate this place.”

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But Bohm apologized to the fans, who gave him an ovation one night later. His teammates rallied around him. Most importantly, he kept hitting. And after testing Girardi’s confidence over the last two years, he has earned his playing time by going 10-for-21 with a .483 on-base percentage and seven RBIs in 21 at-bats.

“I’m happy with the way things have gone, for sure,” Bohm said. “Last year, it probably would’ve gone differently. I probably would’ve handled it differently, and it probably would’ve gone differently. I’m proud of the progress I’ve made.”

The Phillies needed to see him make it, too. Even infield coach Bobby Dickerson, who, it should be noted, believes in Bohm’s ability to play third base, said this week that the 25-year-old has reached a point where his work in practice “will translate into a game, or it won’t.”

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For a few days in Colorado, at least, it translated.

“The plays that he made in this series were really good,” Girardi said. “I’m extremely proud of what he’s done and the work that he’s put in with Bobby. He had a tough day [against the Mets], a really tough day, and the kid has responded great. He looks really good.”

With Didi Gregorius’ left hand swollen and sore after getting hit by a pitch Tuesday night and the Phillies facing a right-handed starter, Girardi could’ve turned to the lefty-hitting rookie Bryson Stott.

Instead, he went with Camargo, who made him look prescient.

Camargo notched his third career four-hit game, his first since Aug. 10, 2018, with Atlanta. It began with a liner off Márquez’s back in the second inning and continued with two more singles before the three-run homer that broke things open in the seventh.

With a chance for a career-high fifth hit, Camargo grounded out in the ninth inning.

“It was a really good day,” Camargo said through a team translator. “Maybe some other time I’ll get that fifth hit.”

When the Phillies signed Camargo in the offseason, they cited his versatility and defense as selling points. But he’s off to a 13-for-34 start with a .417 on-base percentage, including going 6-for-8 since replacing Gregorius in the fourth inning Tuesday night.

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Schwarber tied the game, 4-4, in the sixth inning with a 468-foot moon shot to the third deck in right field, rarely reached territory even at Coors.

Camargo’s reaction: “Oh my God. I said, ‘Is this a home run derby, or what?’”

Schwarber’s shot tied Bryce Harper’s blast on April 25, 2021, also at Coors Field, for the third-longest Phillies homer since Statcast came into existence in 2015. The only homers that were longer: Maikel Franco on July 10, 2016, at Colorado and Harper on Aug. 22, 2020, at Atlanta.

One night after giving up a go-ahead, three-run homer to C.J. Cron, reliever Jeurys Familia struggled again in the seventh inning.

Pitching this time with a five-run cushion, Familia allowed a leadoff single to Randal Grichuk and consecutive one-out doubles to Cron and Ryan McMahon that cut the Phillies’ lead to 9-6.