Kyle Schwarber homers and doubles while Aaron Nola gets hit hard in Phillies’ loss to Yankees
Aaron Judge knocked Nola out of the game in the top of the fifth inning with a bomb, the third run Nola surrendered. Schwarber resumed his hot hitting from the World Baseball Classic.
TAMPA, Fla. — In the first inning Sunday, Kyle Schwarber worked back from a 1-2 count to 3-2, then laced a 95.3-mph fastball from right-handed Yankees starter Will Warren at 106.1 mph to deep left field for a stand-up double.
In the eighth inning, Schwarbs pulled an 89.3-mph sinker 105.2 mph 394 feet over the left-field wall off lefty reliever Tim Hill for a two-run homer in a 6-2 Phillies loss.
These are good harbingers for Schwarber, the reigning National League home run king and NL MVP runner-up. He’s recognizing pitches, he’s comfortable with his strike zone, and he’s crushing both lefties and righties.
Schwarber entered 2-for-14 with a home run, two walks and six strikeouts in his five spring-training starts. However, he’d sandwiched a strong World Baseball Classic between his four Grapefruit League games in February and his return to the Clearwater club on Friday. Schwarber hit .320 with a .909 OPS with six walks in for Team USA in seven WBC games.
“I’ve felt pretty good. I kind of like the work I’ve been doing,” Schwarber said. “Even in the WBC, throughout the whole course, I felt pretty competitive.”
That’s seldom the case in Florida for Schwarber, whose spring OPS marks the past two springs were .408, then .665.
“He usually doesn’t hit in the spring,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I’m really happy with where he’s at.”
Who stood out
In the third inning, J.T. Realmuto easily threw out Ryan McMahon at second base on an 0-1 changeup from Aaron Nola. Trent Grisham stole two bases for the Yankees.
On the mound
Nola gave up three runs on six hits with three walks in four innings. Aaron Judge, who won the AL MVP in three of the last four seasons, charged a 2-2 changeup 111.7 mph over the left-field fence at George M. Steinbrenner Field, and that ended Nola’s day, and his spring. In Nola’s two Grapefruit League games, he surrendered four runs in six innings. In the two World Baseball Classic games Nola started for Team Italy, he surrendered one run in nine innings.
Quotable
Thomson adores Garrett Stubbs, the veteran backup catcher whose ebullient personality helped buoy the Phillies from 2022-24 but who will be either traded or designated for assignment by Wednesday. When Thomson was asked Sunday about recent the joyous tasks of informing a handful of players on the bubble that they’d made the team, he was quick to add that he sometimes bears bad news, too:
“The flip side of that is Garrett Stubbs. That’s very emotional,” said Thomson, choking up a bit. “That was tough, because he’s meant a lot to this organization. And I love him.”
On deck
The Phillies finish their Grapefruit League season home at BayCare Ballpark on Monday at 12:05 p.m. against the Rays. Left-hander Jesús Luzardo (3-0, 2.31) is scheduled to start against Rays reliever Steven Matz (0-0, 0.00).