Categories: 2022 Postgame Recaps

Harper-less Phillies score 8, bullpen does the rest to take series over Padres

Kyle Schwarber is putting together a huge month of June. (Mark Stahl/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Phillies 8, Padres 5

SAN DIEGO — If one game is enough to convince Philadelphia Phillies fans their team can withstand an extended Bryce Harper injured list stint, Sunday may have been that game.

Led by one of the hottest hitters in baseball, as well as the guy the team will largely rely upon to fill Harper’s spot in the lineup (more on each within), the Phillies’ offense posted eight runs on 13 hits in Sunday’s finale against the San Diego Padres. Backed by a bullpen that extended its scoreless innings streak to 17 innings, the Phillies earned an 8-5 victory, improving them to 18-5 in June and giving them a four-game road series win over one of the best teams in the National League.

They’re 39-35.

June Schwarber, again — then again

It’s getting kind of ridiculous at this point.

Kyle Schwarber entered Sunday with a 1.038 OPS in June, consistently his most productive month of the calendar. That mark only got better.

The first instance came in the second inning, when Schwarber lined an RBI double into the right-center field gap to put the Phillies up 2-1. (Bryson Stott had made it 1-1 with an RBI single of his own two batters earlier.)

It was Schwarber’s second two-strike, two-out RBI in as many days.

Then, after Stott walked and Matt Vierling singled to lead off the seventh, Schwarber came up with a chance to do even more damage. He worked a 2-0 count against Nabil Crismatt before taking a 2-0 pitch that caught a lot of plate for strike one.

He could have swung. One pitch later, he vindicated himself:

It was his staggering 10th home run in June and his 21st on the season. It also put the Phillies up 6-5 in the blink of an eye.

Running Wild

The Phillies had four stolen base attempts on Sunday, three of which were successful (Castellanos, Herrera and Stott) and one of which was not (Castellanos).

It’s just the third time this season the Phillies have attempted four steals, and it’s probably not a coincidence that it happened in the first game of an “indefinite” Harper absence.

They’ll need to manufacture runs any way they can, and if stealing bases is one of those ways, so be it. After all, they did enter Sunday with an 83% success rate on stolen base attempts — second-best in the National League, trailing only the Dodgers — so perhaps it’s a more-than-viable strategy.

Silver lining in Castellanos?

Nick Castellanos has had a down season offensively, and one has to wonder how much playing right field on an everyday basis has played into that.

With Bryce Harper placed on the injured list Sunday, Castellanos won’t have to play the outfield nearly as much for the foreseeable future. He went 4-for-5 as Sunday’s designated hitter. It was his first three-hit game since May 9 and his first four-hit game all season:

If playing right field actually was a key factor in Castellanos’ offensive struggles — or if it wasn’t, but he finds his groove soon anyway — it would go a long way toward compensating for Harper’s absence.

It’s just one game. But so far, so good on that front.

It’s not how you start …

The Phillies’ bullpen did it again. Nick Nelson came on in relief of a shaky Kyle Gibson and threw 3 1/3 perfect innings. Corey Knebel threw a perfect inning. José Alvarado threw a scoreless inning. Andrew Bellatti threw a perfect inning.

At one point, the Phillies’ bullpen had retired 34 straight batters dating back to Wednesday — more than a perfect game’s worth of dominance.

And the offense tacked on late. Schwarber hit a three-run homer. Garrett Stubbs delivered an RBI single:

Vierling doubled to lead off the ninth, then scored on a wild pitch. The three-run lead was more than enough for Bellatti.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

Yu Darvish: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO, 0 HR, 102 pitches (66 strikes)

The Phillies caught Darvish at an inopportune time, with the right-hander surrendering just two runs across 22 innings in his last three starts. But credit to the Phillies’ Harper-less offense for getting to Darvish and running his pitch count up. The aggressive running game also didn’t do Darvish any favors, as two stolen bases in the second inning each set up RBI singles. His ERA finished at 3.26.

Kyle Gibson: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB (2 HBP), 2 SO, 0 HR, 61 pitches (34 strikes)

After walking nobody in 14 ⅓ innings across his last two starts, walks and hit batters were a massive issue for Gibson on Sunday. He walked two and hit one in the third inning alone; the two walks sandwiched between a pair of two-out, two-run doubles. He was laboring from the jump after walking Jurickson Profar and hitting Jake Cronenworth to lead off the bottom of the first and was never able to settle in. The rocky outing broke his string of three straight quality starts and bumped his ERA up to 4.48.

Phillies Nuggets Of The Game