After dropping two of three games against the Cleveland Guardians at home last weekend, the Philadelphia Phillies headed west to begin a challenging West Coast swing. The trip opened with a three-game series against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego.
On Memorial Day Monday, in front of 41,293 fans at Petco Park, you had a feeling it was going to be a good afternoon when the beloved Kyle Schwarber crushed a leadoff home run in his first at-bat. Schwarber battled through an eight-pitch plate appearance before sending one into the seats to give Philadelphia an early 1-0 lead and immediately set the tone for the afternoon. The blast was Schwarber’s MLB-leading 21st home run of the season.
The Phillies’ offense was fairly quiet the rest of the game, finishing with just three hits total, but it proved to be more than enough. Schwarber accounted for two of those hits, while Brandon Marsh delivered the big insurance blow in the seventh inning with a two-run homer that scored Schwarber and extended the lead to 3-0.
Jesús Luzardo earned the win, improving to 4-4 on the year, after grinding through six scoreless innings. The left-hander allowed four hits, walked two, and struck out six while throwing 104 pitches (64 strikes). Although he did not appear to have his sharpest command, Luzardo consistently made key pitches when it mattered most. He escaped several difficult situations throughout the afternoon, including a bases-loaded jam in the first inning when he struck out Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill before inducing a groundout to end the threat. He later worked around runners on the corners in the third inning thanks to a Machado double play and stranded two more runners in the fifth.
Interim manager Don Mattingly noted Luzardo’s resilience afterward. “He didn’t seem quite as sharp today with command, a lot of deep counts,” Mattingly said. “But he kind of just hung in there. He kept making pitches, and he made some big pitches for us.”
Luzardo has quietly been putting together an impressive stretch. Over his last six starts, he owns a 2.36 ERA and 1.08 WHIP with 39 strikeouts across 34⅓ innings. Five of those outings have been quality starts, including each of his last three.
Final score: Phillies 3, Padres 0.
On Tuesday night, it was the long ball that powered the Phillies to a 4-3 victory over the Padres, as Philadelphia homered in each of the first three innings to build an early cushion.
Bryce Harper got things started with a solo shot in the opening inning, and it came off the bat at 113.5 mph, his hardest-hit ball of the season. J.T. Realmuto followed with a home run of his own in the second inning before Trea Turner delivered the loudest blast of the night in the third, launching a towering shot an estimated 434 feet.
The Phillies accounted for three solo home runs in the game, while Alec Bohm added an RBI single in the third inning that scored Harper and extended Philadelphia’s lead to 4-0 after three frames.
Aaron Nola, who entered the night with a 6.01 ERA, turned in one of his strongest outings of the season. The veteran right-hander allowed just three hits and two runs across six innings while walking none and striking out five.
San Diego made things interesting, cutting into the deficit with a pair of home runs. The Padres scored twice in the fourth inning on Machado’s two-run shot and added another run in the eighth on Ramón Laureano’s solo homer, trimming the Phillies’ lead to one. Philadelphia’s bullpen held firm the rest of the way.
Jhoan Duran closed the door in the ninth inning, striking out two batters to earn his 11th save of the season.
In Wednesday’s series finale against the San Diego Padres, Cristopher Sánchez turned in another remarkable outing and continued his historic stretch on the mound. The Phillies left-hander tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits while striking out nine without issuing a walk, as Philadelphia rolled to a 3-0 victory.
By getting through the fourth inning without surrendering a run, Sánchez set a new Phillies franchise record with 44⅔ consecutive scoreless innings, breaking the previous mark of 41 set by Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1911. Sánchez also finished the entire month of May without allowing an earned run.
Offensively, Turner added some breathing room with a leadoff solo homer in the ninth, his seventh home run of the season, while Schwarber delivered an RBI single during Philadelphia’s two-run sixth inning. The victory completed a three-game sweep for the Phillies, who now stay in California for a weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers beginning Friday, with Zack Wheeler expected to get the ball in the opener.
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