Don Mattingly was shagging balls in the outfield during batting practice one recent day at Citizens Bank Park when an usher leaned over the wall and offered an opinion on the Phillies’ lineup.
“He wanted to know why I don’t hit (Kyle) Schwarber fourth,” Mattingly recalled Wednesday afternoon. “He likes the traditional way.”
Mattingly explained to the usher that Schwarber hit a key home run the day before and wouldn’t have been up in that spot if he wasn’t hitting in the leadoff hole.
The usher nodded his approval then asked Mattingly for a ball. The Phillies skipper obliged.
The anecdote proved quite timely because Schwarber’s spot in the lineup came up in the sixth inning Wednesday night as the Phillies had loaded the bases against Houston Astros reliever AJ Blubaugh. The Phils were up, 7-6. Make it 11-6. Schwarber clubbed a grand slam 408 feet into the right field seats for his MLB-leading 44th home run.
The Phillies went on to win the game, 11-7, overcoming deficits of 4-0 and 6-4 along the way.
Cristopher Sanchez was far from his best. In fact, he was hit hard at times, both in volume and exit velocity. But he managed to earn his 17th win. With three starts remaining, he has a chance to become the Phillies’ first 20-game winner since Roy Halladay in 2010.
Sanchez was tagged for 10 hits, including three doubles and a pair of two-run home runs. But his teammates showed a lot of resilience in coming back from being down – and they didn’t make any baserunning mistakes. In fact, they ran the bases aggressively, with runners in motion several times, as they stroked five singles and scored four times against Houston starter Hunter Brown in the third inning to tie the game at 4-4.
Sanchez gave up a two-run home run to Cam Smith as the Astros went ahead 6-4 in the fourth.
Trea Turner started the Phillies’ second comeback with a homer, his second in as many nights, in the fifth before the bats went nuts against the Astros’ bullpen in the sixth. Edmundo Sosa tied the game with a pinch-hit single and Bryan De La Cruz drew a bases-loaded walk to put the Phils up by a run and set the stage for Schwarber’s 10th career grand slam.
The victory left the Phillies in position to gain ground in the NL East and wild-card races. The Phils entered the day trailing first-place Atlanta by four games in the NL East and leading the Cubs by a half-game for the first wild-card spot. There are 16 games remaining in the regular season. The Phils will look to win the series against Houston with Zack Wheeler on the mound Thursday afternoon.
More coming…