Schwarber hits leadoff homer, sparks Phillies to 15-3 win over Diamondbacks
By DAVID BRANDT
AP Baseball Writer
PHOENIX (AP) — Kyle Schwarber mashed a 450-foot homer. Trea Turner added two hits, two walks and a pair of stolen bases. Nick Castellanos had two doubles and three RBIs. Bryce Harper even chipped in with a pair of hits and RBIs.
This was the kind of offensive night the Philadelphia Phillies envisioned when the season started.
Schwarber crushed a long, leadoff homer to start the game, Zack Wheeler threw six strong innings and the Phillies kept piling on in a 15-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.
“It’s a little bit contagious,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of the offensive output.
Philadelphia has won eight of its last 10 games, following a five-game losing streak. The Phillies are still just 33-34 this season, but looking much more like the team that made it to the World Series last year.
“That’s more important than anything, playing good baseball against good teams,” Turner said. “We’re doing everything — pitching, playing defense, timely hitting.”
The D-backs had their six-game winning streak snapped.
The Phillies had 20 hits on Tuesday and every starter had at least one, led by Bryson Stott’s 3 for 5 night that included a homer and two RBIs.
The Phillies jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, starting with Schwarber’s leadoff homer, which was a towering drive down the right-field line that left his bat at more than 111 mph. Castellanos added an RBI double during the opening salvo and the Phillies benefited from a throwing error by D-backs third baseman Emmanuel Rivera, which eventually led to two unearned runs.
It was the beginning of a difficult, short night for D-backs righty Zach Davies (1-2), who gave up six runs, including four earned, over three innings. He surrendered six hits and four stolen bases, walked three and struck out four.
The Phillies scored two more runs in the third and built a 7-0 lead in the fifth after Stott’s solo homer. They added one more run in the seventh and three in the eighth off reliever Joe Mantiply, then tagged D-backs position player Josh Rojas for four runs in the ninth.
Wheeler (5-4) gave up one run on four hits over six innings, walking one and striking out seven. The Phillies have won three of his past four starts.
“I felt pretty good,” Wheeler said. “Didn’t feel my best, but felt good. Everything was working. Command with fastball wasn’t the best, but it had some life, so I was getting away with some stuff.”
Christian Walker led the D-backs’ offense with four hits, including two doubles and an RBI. Corbin Carroll added a solo homer, his 14th of the season.
Even with Tuesday’s loss, Arizona has won 12 of its past 15 games, vaulting to the top of the NL West.
“This was — for me — a total outlier,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve been playing good baseball. We’ve just got to digest it, throw it out and be ready tomorrow. The game just didn’t really have a rhythm to it.”
OOPS
Carroll’s having such a good season he’s the betting favorite to win the NL Rookie of the Year.
But the D-backs left fielder made an embarrassing rookie mistake Tuesday.
Carroll caught the second out of the third inning on a shallow fly ball from Kody Clemens, but apparently thought it was the third out, because he turned around to grab his hat that had fallen off while he was chasing the ball.
Once J.T. Realmuto — who was standing on third base — realized Carroll thought there were three outs, he tagged up and ran home to give the Phillies a 6-0 lead.
SLUGGIN’ SCHWARBER
Schwarber’s putting together quite the all-or-nothing season at the plate.
The left-handed slugger is hitting just .177 this season, but his first-inning blast was his 18th homer. Nearly half his hits this season — 18 of 42 — have left the playing field.
Schwarber’s low batting average and great power output have been staples through the two-time All-Star’s career. He hit .218 last season but launched an NL-leading 46 homers while striking out 200 times, which also led the NL.
MAKING MOVES
Phillies: RHP Luis Ortiz was called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley before Tuesday’s game. To make room on the 26-man roster, RHP Yunior Marte was optioned to the minors.
UP NEXT
The series continues Wednesday night. The D-backs will send RHP Merrill Kelly (8-3, 2.92 ERA) to the mound while the Phillies plan to start LHP Ranger Suarez (1-2, 4.70 ERA).
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