Schwarber's 50th, Suárez's brilliance help Phillies top Mets originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Creativity can stem from uncertainty.
When Trea Turner and Alec Bohm both landed on the IL on Monday, it forced Rob Thomson’s hand.
First, the Phillies recalled Otto Kemp from Triple-A.
Then, Thomson tinkered with the leadoff spot. Bryce Harper got the nod against a righty Monday. Tuesday, with Mets’ lefty Sean Manaea on the mound, it was Harrison Bader’s turn.
It’s safe to say, it worked in the Phillies’ 9-3 win over New York.
After Nick Castellanos struck first — for the second straight night — with a two-out, two-strike, two-run double, Kemp and Bader followed with back-to-back homers to make it 4-0.
For Kemp, the homer made his 25th birthday unforgettable. “Definitely one of the top baseball moments I’ve had,” he said. “It’s been cool to get back up here and just try and contribute any way I can.”
The Phillies hardly looked like a team that has been haunted by the Mets since last October.
There’s nothing creative about running Ranger Suárez out there every fifth day. But when Zack Wheeler went down for the season, the question became whether the Phils’ top lefties could carry an ace’s load.
Suárez has answered. He came in with a 1.09 ERA over his last three starts. And Tuesday night, he only strengthened that case.
The lefty delivered six innings of one-hit, scoreless ball, baffling Mets hitters by getting ahead in counts and mixing his full repertoire.
“I think he was in the strike zone when he needed to be, and he was out of the strike zone when he needed to be,” Thomson said. “Masterful, really… all his pitches were good, his command was good.”
New York often looked off balance, as if the on-deck circle’s eight pound sledgehammer had thrown their timing out of sync.
And Suárez keeps raising the bar. Over his last five starts, he’s tied his career high in strikeouts (10), broke it with 11, and topped it again with 12 on Tuesday night.
Suárez himself admitted the strikeout total was a pleasant surprise. “It feels great,” he said. “I don’t usually strike out a lot of guys — I’m more of a pitch-to-contact guy — but every time we got into two-strike counts, we tried to put them away, and we could do that today.”
The Phils starter said the difference from last year’s injury-plagued finish is health. “Obviously, when you’re healthy, you give your 100% every time you’re out there. Last year, that wasn’t the case … I feel way better now,” he said.
And his manager didn’t hesitate to back the “big-game pitcher” label. “The heartbeat never changes,” Thomson said. “He’s just his own man, and he goes out there and pitches.”
The bats backed his strong performance. Following Mark Vientos’ solo homer off David Robertson in the top of the seventh, Bryson Stott legged out an infield single in the bottom half. Harrison Bader added a two-out knock, setting the stage for a memorable moment in Phillies history.
On a 3-1 count, Kyle Schwarber unloaded on an outside cutter, sending it 437 feet into left-center for his 50th homer of the season.
He became just the second Phillie ever to reach the milestone, joining Ryan Howard (2006).
The three-run blast — scorched at 110.4 mph — pushed the lead to 7-1.
The Mets and Phils traded runs in the eighth. Juan Soto lined an RBI single off Tanner Banks, but Bryson Stott answered right back with one of his own.
In the ninth, Bader’s scorching stretch continued. His RBI single gave him three hits on the night and a second straight three-hit game.
“[Bader’s] been swinging the bat great and playing great defense,” Thomson said. “[Brandon] Nimmo hits that ball in the ninth inning and he gets a great jump on it — it looked like it was in the gap — and he just covers it.”
With the Phils up seven, Max Lazar handled the final inning. The Mets scratched one across, but that was it.
The Phillies moved to 85-60 with the win, nine games clear of New York. For a team that had struggled mightily against its rival all year, the beat-up Phils have buckled down to take some massive games.
