Blog

NEW YORK — Kyle Schwarber watched it go.

Just a guess, but when you’ve hit as many homers as the Phillies’ star slugger — 30 this season, more than any player in baseball; 370 in his career, tied fittingly with 1969 Miracle Mets manager Gil Hodges for 87th all-time — you probably know it when you feel it.

And so, with one swing, Schwarber covered up another Phillies wart.

“What he’s doing,” left fielder Brandon Marsh said after Schwarber’s two-run homer in the seventh inning here Sunday brought the Phillies back — again — in a 5-4 victory that drew them to within three games of first place in the NL East, “is off the charts.”

It’s also historic.

With his 408-footer to right-center field against Mets righty Kodai Senga, Schwarber reached the 30-homer mark in the Phillies’ 84th game, faster than any player in franchise history. He didn’t hit No. 30 until the 94th game last season en route to finishing with 56, a career-high.

“After last year, I didn’t think it was easily topped,” said starter Jesús Luzardo, who gave up one run but lasted only five innings. “But I mean, he just keeps making it seem easy.”

In this case, Schwarber got four consecutive forkballs, Senga’s signature pitch, and fouled off the last two to keep the at-bat going. Eventually, Senga had to throw a fastball, and when he did, well, kaboom.

“You’re just trying to get a pitch in the zone and put it in play,” Schwarber said. “There’s no real, look for this, look for that. It’s more just trying to really simplify the approach, and whenever that ball does come, try to put it in play.”

Said Marsh: “I wouldn’t say it was a bad idea for [Senga] to try to sneak a heater in after throwing the 80-mile-an-hour forkball, which is a crazy pitch, by the way. But Kyle just really stayed on that heater and got one in a good spot.”

And just like that, the Phillies had the lead again after Chase Shugart turned a 3-1 lead into a 4-3 deficit in the sixth inning. José Alvarado stranded two runners in the seventh inning and Orion Kerkering tightrope-walked through a bases-loaded jam eighth before Jhoan Duran locked it down in the ninth.

It feels nitpicky after a wildly successful road trip in which the Phillies went 5-2 in Washington and New York and moved to within three games of the division-leading Braves, but their flaws bubbled to the surface last week. They’re vulnerable to left-handed pitching; the middle relief can be exposed when the starter doesn’t go six innings; the defense isn’t good.

But all’s well that ended well, and the Phillies scored 26 runs in the seventh inning or later in the seven games to make sure most of them ended well.

“Well, I don’t know what it tells us, honestly,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “But it’s good to see that we keep going, like even losing the lead there and coming right back, getting it back.”

Said Schwarber: “I don’t know if I’ve ever been part of a road trip quite like that. I don’t think I saw as many [comebacks] as we did in our previous series against Washington. You don’t see those games very often, but really cool. And then to be able to come here and have some one-run wins. Those are the things that it’s going to take as we keep moving forward through the season.”

Ideally, the Phillies will address a few areas before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. But they can also tighten up their performance in others.

Just ask their manager.

“There’s going to be times where the bullpen’s carrying us, and the starters,” Mattingly said. “There’s going to be times where we score some runs. Hopefully, there’s going to be times we’re catching the ball and making plays.”

And there’s going to be times when the Phillies jump on Schwarber’s back.

Everyone knows he can carry them.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen anybody quite like him,” Mattingly said. “He’s a little different than guys I’ve played with. It’s a different time with more strikeouts, damage, walks. But he’s amazing in what he does, and it’s obviously good to see.”

Schwarber is on pace for 59 homers, which would not only break Ryan Howard’s single-season franchise mark of 58 but also leave Schwarber one homer shy of 400 at the end of the season. It’s a race to 400 between him and Bryce Harper, who has 382 career homers.

“I think it’d be cool, just knowing that it’s going to happen one day, right?” Schwarber said. “To see someone of [Harper’s] caliber be able to reach 400 will be really cool. Whenever that day comes for me, it’ll be another cool milestone.”

In the meantime, he can keep making the Phillies’ issues vanish with one swing.

“I’m just trying to soak it all in and learn,” Marsh said. “Because years down the road from now, it’s going to be one of those where, God willing, I’ll get to tell my family, ‘I got to watch this.’ It’s pretty special.”