Two walk-offs? A familiar feeling? What we learned as Phillies sweep Giants originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It’s early, but does this feel similar to 2022?
When the Phillies, at 22-29, fired Joe Girardi on June 3 that season, Dave Dombrowski and the front office turned to Rob Thomson.
The Phils won Thomson’s debut, 10-0 over the Angels at home. They won the next day, too. Then, a day later, they walked off the Angels in a 9-7 win. Rookie Bryson Stott delivered the ninth-inning magic.
A sweep.
About 1,425 days later, it has opened similarly. On Tuesday, interim manager Don Mattingly took over for Thomson. The Phillies responded with a 7-0 shutout over San Francisco. Two days later, rookie Justin Crawford walked off the Giants in comeback fashion. Kyle Schwarber hit his 350th homer in the game.
The Phillies finished the second game — a 6-5 victory — the same way, it would make the day even more unusual: two walk-off wins in one day for the first time since July 24, 1998, against the Florida Marlins.
Reliever Chase Shugart, who delivered a clutch, scoreless top of the tenth, became the first Phillie to win both games of a doubleheader since Terry Adams on Sept. 21, 2002, in Cincinnati.
Alec Bohm, the walk-off hero. Another sweep.
History does not always repeat itself, but baseball has a way of circling back on itself. Three games into Mattingly’s run, there are at least signs of something worth watching. A number of them showed up across Thursday’s doubleheader.
Let’s dive in:
SÁNCHEZ TURNS THE PAGE — GAME 1
Entering the start, Cristopher Sánchez carried a 2.94 ERA despite allowing 44 hits in 33 2/3 innings. He was tied for second in the league in hits allowed per game. More than anything, that has spoken to his poise, especially as he has pitched to contact more often in 2026.
In his previous start, the Cubs scattered 12 hits against him. Three starts earlier, the Giants got to him for 11. There had been a lot of weak contact in those outings, which helped explain why the underlying numbers still looked healthier than the hit totals.
Thursday did not begin well either. Sánchez allowed back-to-back doubles to Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman to open the game. Then came an RBI groundout and a Casey Schmitt run-scoring single.
The Phillies were in a hole right away.
Without Sánchez’s ability to settle in, though, they would not have come back later. He allowed just one hit the rest of the outing and struck out six, five of them on the changeup. He threw the pitch 34 percent of the time and got a 38 percent whiff rate with it.
“I think he just kept fighting and kept making pitches,” Mattingly said. “That’s a pretty good outing when a guy gives up two in the first and is able to come back like that and keep us in the game.”
Mattingly pulled Sánchez at 85 pitches with two outs in the sixth. Sánchez walked off shaking his head.
“Of course I wanted to stay out,” Sánchez said. “I just wanted to finish that one off.”
Still, the move held, and the comeback stayed alive.
HARD-HITTIN’ ADOLIS — GAME 1
His numbers entering the day did not jump out. García came in with a .699 OPS.
But he keeps scorching the ball.
In his four at-bats in Game 1, three were hard-hit balls. That has been a trend all season. García has posted a 49.4 percent hard-hit rate, which would be his best since his 2023 career year.
And when he has put the ball in play, good things have happened. He is hitting .316 on balls in play, his best BABIP since 2022.
When the Phillies signed García in the offseason, they were betting on a bounce-back year. So far, the metrics say the quality of contact has improved. He changed his batting stance to look more like the one he used in 2023, and it has helped.
The defense has been a major part of the value, too.
He finished Game 1 with two hits, then had a two-run hit in Game 2 and nearly ended the night with a walkoff in the ninth, but Ramos tracked it down.
TREA KEEPS GOING OPPO — GAME 2
Turner wasted no time getting Game 2 started.
On the first pitch he saw after the walk-off win in Game 1, he jumped an Adrian Houser sinker left in the middle of the zone and sent it out the other way. It looked a lot like the opposite-field swing he showed against Braves righty Grant Holmes on the road trip.
Turner won the batting title in 2025 at .304, but he went to the opposite field only 28.1 percent of the time. This season, he has hit the ball to the right side 34.7 percent of the time.
It is not a bat-speed issue. His 2026 bat speed is actually a tick above last season’s. He has hit the ball softer overall, as the hard-hit rate is down. Even so, after a multi-hit day, he looks like he may be finding something again.
It gave the Phillies a jolt right away in the second game of the doubleheader. Clubs can drag a little in those spots. The Phillies did not.
HOW ABOUT THAT SHOT? — GAME 2
It was a milestone day for Schwarber.
No. 350, then a tape-measure blast.
The Phillies slugger demolished a hanging slider from Houser and drove it to right-center. It hit the red sign on the facing of the second deck. Without that sign, it may have reached the concourse in front of Chickie’s & Pete’s.
It left the bat at 112.4 mph. His earlier homer came off at 113 mph. Together, the two traveled 852 feet — nearly three football fields.
Schwarber would later come through with a game-tying double with two strikes and two outs in the ninth. A day to remember.
His power has been there all season. He is barreling the ball at a 20 percent clip. As for the 350th homer in Game 1, it came in his 1,321st game, the seventh-fewest contests to reach the mark, according to the Phillies.
WHEN DO REALMUTO, DURAN RETURN?
Mattingly said this week that J.T. Realmuto is progressing. He went on the 10-day injured list on April 22 with back spasms, his second injury issue after getting hit on the foot earlier in San Francisco.
The Phillies’ interim manager made clear they are not rushing it.
“We need a strong J.T. to be the best J.T. we can,” Mattingly said. “We want him back being J.T. And not for a week.”
That caution makes sense. Rafael Marchán and Garrett Stubbs entered Thursday with a combined .113 average and .328 OPS. Everyone benefits when Realmuto is back in the lineup and fully healthy.
Closer Jhoan Duran is moving forward, too. He threw a bullpen Thursday for the first time since going on the IL with a left oblique injury.
In the 16 days since that stint began, the Phillies have not had a save opportunity. The way things are trending after the first three games under Mattingly, that may change soon enough.