Kyle Schwarber is no longer just having a hot streak.
This is beginning to look like one of those stretches that reshapes an entire season.
And Friday night at PNC Park, Schwarber delivered again, launching two more home runs and driving in five runs as the Phillies stormed back from a six-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-9, in 10 innings.
The Phillies looked dead by the middle innings.
Aaron Nola struggled through another difficult outing, allowing six runs in just 3 2/3 innings while the Pirates erupted in the third inning behind a two-run single from Oneil Cruz and two-run homers from Brandon Lowe and Marcell Ozuna.
For Nola, the concern level continues to rise.
The veteran right-hander has now allowed nine home runs in his first nine starts and owns a 5.91 ERA. He has failed to complete five innings in four of his last five outings, and Friday marked another night where the Phillies needed their offense to rescue them.
That offense eventually did.
The Phillies first got on the board in the fourth inning when Bryson Stott lifted a sacrifice fly to score Bryce Harper.
Then Schwarber took over.
In the fifth inning, Schwarber crushed a two-run homer 400 feet to right-center field off Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft, trimming the deficit to 6-3.
Two innings later, he struck again.
Schwarber blistered a line-drive homer 408 feet into the left-center-field seats for his Major League-leading 20th home run of the season and his ninth homer in his last eight games.
The pace has become almost absurd.
Schwarber hit 56 home runs a season ago, but did not reach 20 until June 7. This year, he reached that number on May 15.
And still, the Phillies weren’t finished.
Trailing 8-5 entering the ninth inning, the Phillies mounted one final rally against former teammate Gregory Soto. Soto loaded the bases before issuing a four-pitch walk to Schwarber to force home a run.
That brought Harper to the plate in the game’s biggest moment.
Harper narrowly missed a go-ahead grand slam, instead driving a ball off the wall in right-center field for a game-tying two-run double. Schwarber was thrown out attempting to advance to third on the play, but the damage had been done.
Harper finished 4-for-5 with two RBIs, giving the Phillies the type of middle-of-the-order performance they desperately needed.
In the 10th inning, the Phillies finally broke through.
Brandon Marsh doubled home Alec Bohm before Rafael Marchán added a two-run single to extend the lead.
Orion Kerkering allowed the automatic runner to score in the bottom half but closed out the win to cap one of the Phillies’ most dramatic victories of the season.
The Phillies improved to 23-24 with the victory and are now 13-4 under interim manager Don Mattingly.
But Friday night belonged to Schwarber yet again.
Right now, every game feels like another entry in a season that is starting to drift toward historic territory.
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