You could feel the tension. Bases loaded. Crowd on its feet. Sixth inning. Phillies down a run. Kyle Schwarber at the plate. José Fermin on the mound.
Two pitches in. Then came pitch No. 3 — a 98-mph fastball up and out over the plate.
Schwarber didn’t miss it.
He crushed it — 109.5 miles per hour off the bat — a towering shot to right-center that landed somewhere near the eighth row. LaMonte Wade Jr. took a few courtesy steps toward the wall, but there was never any doubt.
Grand slam. Schwarber’s 32nd homer of the year. The eighth slam of his career. From 4–3 down to 7–4 up with one swing.
The Phillies added two more on a Bryce Harper two-run shot in the eighth, and beat the Angels, 9–5, on a night that started with a play you probably won’t find in any Little League handbook.
Because before the fireworks, there was... this:
Because before the fireworks, there was... this:
A 4-2-6-2-5 double play.
Yes, really.
It started with the Phillies threatening in the first. Runners on second and third. Nobody out. Bryce Harper hit a grounder to second with the infield in. Luis Rengifo threw home. And then: base-running bedlam.
Trea Turner was caught in a rundown between third and home. As he stalled, Kyle Schwarber found himself trapped between second and third. Turner was tagged out. Schwarber tried to make something happen. He was tagged out. Two runners erased on one ground ball.
Harper? He advanced to second amid the chaos. Nick Castellanos at least made it all worth something with a two-out RBI single to give the Phillies a 1–0 lead. But the crowd? Already agitated.
Then came the fourth.
Taijuan Walker, once again auditioning for the "Most Nerve-Wracking Fifth Starter in Baseball," gave up back-to-back homers to Taylor Ward and Jo Adell. Zach Neto added an RBI single. The Angels led 3–1 and looked ready to roll — until they stranded the bases loaded.
The Phillies clawed one back on a Turner RBI single in the fifth. But Yoan Moncada’s solo homer in the sixth made it 4–2. And then came Schwarber’s moment.
He was the seventh man to bat that inning. A Johan Rojas sac fly had cut the lead to one. The Phillies needed a swing. They got a grand slam.
From there, Harper's two-run shot put it away.
But don’t let the final score fool you — this one had everything. Baserunning mayhem. Back-to-back bombs. A fifth-inning comeback. A sixth-inning explosion. A rare double play that may require a frame-by-frame breakdown.
And, of course, Kyle Schwarber doing what Kyle Schwarber does.
The two clubs close out their three-game set on Sunday.
Loading Phillies schedule...
Loading NL East standings...
Support the Mission. Fuel the Movement.
You’re not just funding journalism — you’re backing the future of baseball in Philly.
👉 Join us on Patreon »