What do you get when you mix 17 hits, a surging slugger, and a left-hander channeling Grover Cleveland Alexander? You get a baseball game that felt more like a midsummer batting practice session in South Philly than a Tuesday night in the Mile High City.
Kyle Schwarber did what Kyle Schwarber does — launch baseballs into orbit — while Bryce Harper kept the doubles parade moving with a pair of ringing shots into the gaps. Toss in a 10-strikeout masterpiece from Jesús Luzardo, and the Phillies found yet another way to make baseball look easy, pounding the Rockies, 7–4, at Coors Field for their fifth win in a row.
Let’s start with Schwarber, because of course we should. His solo shot to center in the seventh inning didn’t just give the Phillies a 7-1 cushion — it also gave him his 17th homer of the year, tying him with Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead in home runs. And it marked the fifth straight game in which the Phillies have homered and won — which, if you’re keeping track, they usually do both at once.
But Schwarber wasn’t the only one swinging it. Not even close.
The Phillies pounded out 17 hits — count ’em, 17 — with six players collecting multi-hit nights. Harper finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. Bryson Stott? Three hits. Brandon Marsh? Three hits. Trea Turner, Alec Bohm, and Max Kepler each had two hits, with Kepler adding a two-out RBI double that scored Schwarber all the way from first base in the fifth.
And somewhere in the middle of all that offensive noise was Luzardo, who continued his early-season brilliance with six innings of two-hit, one-run ball. He struck out 10, walked just one, and improved to 5-0 with a 1.95 ERA. Here’s some company for him: The only other pitchers in Phillies history to open a season with at least 10 starts, an unbeaten record, and an ERA under 2.00? Ranger Suárez in 2024 … and a guy named Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1913. Not bad.
The Phillies jumped on Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela (1-8) early. Harper doubled home a run three batters into the game, Nick Castellanos added a sac fly, and by the fifth, it was 4-1. The seventh inning turned into batting-practice theater: Schwarber homered, then Bohm and Marsh laced back-to-back two-out RBI singles to make it 7-1.
Colorado added some window dressing late, getting RBI singles from Mickey Moniak and Ryan McMahon off reliever Max Lazar in the ninth. But by then, the damage had long been done.
The Rockies dropped their third straight and fell to a league-worst 8-40 — the kind of record that makes you double-check for typos.
The Phillies, meanwhile, continue to ride the wave — loud bats, sharp pitching, and a team that, night after night, keeps looking more like the best version of itself.
