For seven innings Thursday night at Fenway Park, the Phillies looked like a team trapped in baseball quicksand again.
Every baserunner felt temporary. Every scoring opportunity disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Another low-scoring loss against the Red Sox seemed to be slowly taking shape.
And then Kyle Schwarber came to the plate.
Which, lately, has become a dangerous place for opposing pitchers to live.
Schwarber launched a go-ahead two-run homer into the right-field seats in the top of the eighth inning Thursday night, lifting the Phillies to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox and securing another series win under interim manager Don Mattingly.
The homer — Schwarber’s Major League-leading 18th of the season — continued what is rapidly becoming one of the most overpowering stretches of his Phillies career. He has now homered six times in his last seven games and is suddenly tracking ahead of even last year’s remarkable power pace, when he finished with 56 home runs.
A year ago, Schwarber did not hit his 18th homer until May 24.
This one arrived on May 14.
After a leadoff single by Trea Turner in the eighth, Schwarber worked the count to 3-1 against Boston reliever Tyler Samaniego, who had not allowed a run this season. Samaniego tried to sneak a cutter past him.
Bad idea.
Schwarber unloaded on it and drove the ball 417 feet beyond the right-field wall, instantly breaking a tie game that had felt increasingly tense with every inning.
The Phillies had not scored since the third inning of Wednesday night’s game. They managed only three runs across the first two games of the series before Schwarber changed the mood of the entire night with one swing.
That has become part of the Phillies’ formula lately. Hang around long enough. Pitch well enough. Defend well enough. Let Schwarber eventually change the game.
And on this night, the pitching and defense gave him plenty of room to do exactly that.
Jesús Luzardo delivered one of his strongest starts of the season, tossing six scoreless innings while allowing four hits. It was an important rebound for the left-hander after he was battered for six runs in three innings against Colorado in his previous outing.
The Phillies made a major organizational bet on Luzardo this spring when they signed him to a five-year extension worth $135 million, effectively choosing him as a long-term rotation cornerstone while allowing Ranger Suárez to depart in free agency for Boston.
Thursday marked the first meeting between the two left-handers since that decision.
And for six innings, both looked worthy of major investments.
Suárez was sharp for Boston, striking out eight Phillies hitters across 5 1/3 innings while continuing his excellent first season with the Red Sox. Luzardo matched him nearly pitch for pitch, navigating several dangerous moments with help from the glove behind him.
Turner, in particular, may have saved the game defensively.
In the fifth inning, with two aboard and two outs, Turner drifted deep into shallow left field to track down a fly ball off the bat of Jarren Duran, ending the inning before Boston could capitalize.
An inning later, Turner delivered an even bigger play.
With a runner on third and one out, Willson Contreras bounced a sharp ground ball toward the left side. Turner ranged far to his right, gathered the ball while on the move, froze the runner at third and fired to first for the second out. Luzardo escaped moments later when Turner handled another routine grounder to end the sixth.
It was the type of clean, winning baseball the Phillies have played with increasing consistency under Mattingly.
The Phillies added an insurance run later in the eighth after Mattingly successfully challenged an infield play at first base. Bryson Stott beat out a ground ball with the bases loaded to score Alec Bohm and extend the lead to 3-0.
Boston finally broke through in the bottom of the inning against José Alvarado on an RBI single by Wilyer Abreu, but Jhoan Duran slammed the door in the ninth with three strikeouts to secure his second save of the series.
The victory improved the Phillies to 21-23 overall and 12-4 since Mattingly took over as interim manager.
No, they still have not completely solved their offensive inconsistencies.
No, everything is not suddenly fixed.
But for two weeks now, they have looked increasingly like a team rediscovering something important:
Stability.
And with Schwarber swinging like this, stability suddenly starts to look a lot more dangerous.
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