The Phillies woke up Monday morning in a familiar place — first place — and a less familiar one — trying to stay there.
A half-game ahead of the Mets. Three games at home against the Orioles waiting. The smell of August baseball in the air.
They just took two of three from the AL Central–leading Tigers, capping it Sunday night with a 2-0 win that felt like a late-October dress rehearsal. Cristopher Sánchez threw eight scoreless innings on just 84 pitches. New closer Jhoan Duran, acquired in last week’s deadline blockbuster, made his second straight save in as many tries. And Kyle Schwarber? He launched his 38th home run of the season — tying Shohei Ohtani for the National League lead — and reminded everyone exactly how much fun a playoff race can be when the bats, the arms, and the swagger all show up together.
“The biggest thing is we have a group where we know we can go really far in the playoffs and be where we want to be,” Schwarber said. “It’s a day-by-day challenge. Obviously, we have our goals before that. We want to win our division.”
And now they’ve got a guy to finish the job.
“I think the overall message was we got a guy in the back end of the bullpen to where we know that if you hand him the ball, it’s going to be tough to beat the guy,” Schwarber said of Duran.
The team trying to stop them tonight is not quite the same team that opened the season. Baltimore has dropped three of its last four, including a gut-punch of a loss Sunday when Cubs pinch-hitter Justin Turner crushed a two-run, walk-off homer in the ninth. At the trade deadline, the Orioles moved center fielder Cedric Mullins to the Mets and shipped Ramon Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn to the Padres. That’s left some wide-open spaces in their lineup.
Enter Jeremiah Jackson — a 25-year-old second baseman blocked in Baltimore by Jackson Holliday, now getting reps in the outfield. He played there just three times in the minors this year, but after the deadline deals (and with Tyler O’Neill sidelined by illness), Jackson started the last two games in right. He also served as DH in his big league debut Friday, going 3-for-8 with a walk over the weekend.
The Orioles will activate lefty Cade Povich (2-5, 5.15 ERA) off the IL to start tonight. He’s been out since mid-June with hip inflammation, and his last outing came in relief — 3 2/3 scoreless innings against the Angels for a win.
The Phillies counter with Jesús Luzardo (9-5, 4.31 ERA), who looked every bit like an ace last Tuesday in Chicago, silencing the White Sox over seven innings of two-hit ball.
First place is theirs again. The challenge now? Making sure it’s still theirs when the calendar flips to September.
Pitching Matchups
Monday: LHP Jesus Luzardo (9-5, 4.31) vs. LHP Cade Povich (2-5, 5.15)
Tuesday: RHP Taijuan Walker (3-5, 3.82) vs/ RHP Dean Kremer (8-7, 4.27)
Wednesday: LHP Ranger Suarez (8-4, 2.68) vs. LHP Trevor Rogers (4-2, 1.44)
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