Phillies break multiple home run records to secure first-round bye originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Manager Rob Thomson has talked a lot this season about how rest can sometimes do a hitter good.
No doubt Edmundo Sosa agrees. He is now the first Phillies shortstop to hit three home runs in a game.
And Kyle Schwarber? Well, he’s just a monster. He’s two home runs closer to breaking Ryan Howard’s franchise record for most home runs in a season (58).
The rest of the team certainly looked playoff ready on Wednesday as the Phillies clinched the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye with an 11-1 thrashing of the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. On what started as a somber, damp night finished with all the electricity of a summer lightning storm.
Reinstated from the Injured List prior to Wednesday’s game, Sosa was inserted into the lineup at shortstop and hit sixth. In his first action since September 12, all Sosa did was slug three home runs and drive in five.
Not to be outdone, Schwarber also hit a pair of bombs, his first off lefty Ryan Weathers. That home run gave him a major league record of 23 home runs in a season off a left-handed pitcher. In all, the Phillies belted a team-record eight home runs.
“Never. Never had a three-homer game before, not in little league, not in the minors,” said Sosa. “Some two-home run games. It’s an amazing feeling, an incredible feeling.”
His third took a little more time coming than the first two, as the umpires reviewed if there was fan interference or not. Sosa stood on second base waiting for the call.
“I was just happy that I hit a double at the moment,” he said. “I was waiting for the umpires to make their decision. The guys in the dugout kept telling me to keep going but at that point I was just waiting for the final decision to come. When they called it, I got even happier, more excited. I thought it was a little low spin so I didn’t think it was going out. I didn’t think it had that much on it.”
It did, and Sosa now finds himself in the team’s record books.
Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Otto Kemp also left the yard for the Phillies, who got a phenomenal starting performance from Jesus Luzardo to improve to 92-65 on the season while handing the Marlins just their second loss in the past 13 games.
After Schwarber tied the score at 1-1 in the third with his 55th home run of the season to dead center field, Sosa one-handed a homer to center that just seemed to keep carrying over centerfielder Jakob Marsee’s head.
Two batters later, Stott upped the lead to 3-1 when he hit a no-doubt-about-it shot to right, his 13th of the season. After that, it was literally bombs away as they scored five in the seventh on homers by Schwarber, Bohm, Kemp and Sosa. Schwarber now needs just two homers to tie Ryan Howard’s single-season record of 58 (2006).
“I think it’s a pretty cool stat,” said Schwarber of the 23 homers of lefties. “Everything that we got to do is in front of us and it’s about finishing healthy. But you also have to fill the lineup, too. I’m also at the bottom of the totem pole there because I don’t play the field much. But I’m always going to be ready to play a game. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, great. I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about getting all our guys to the end of 162 and then everyone be healthy and push towards what we need to go to.”
In the past two nights against the Miami Marlins, starting pitchers Cristopher Sanchez and Luzardo combined to pitch 14 innings without giving up a run. Tuesday, the bullpen couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead. Gifted with an 11-1 lead on Wednesday, Luzardo’s win was safe after he allowed just three hits, no earned runs and struck out 10 in his seven innings.
It was the seventh time this season Luzardo has struck out 10 or more batters and he has now set career highs with 216 strikeouts and 186 2/3 innings pitched.
Schwarber picked up four hits on the night, a triple shy of a cycle. He also upped his RBI total on the season to a National League leading 132. Bohm continued his hot hitting since coming off the IL on Friday by collecting two more hits.
And just like that, the bye is a reality and playoff baseball at CBP begins on Saturday, October 4th.
“I’m truly excited,” said Luzardo. “Even in the regular season you can see the home field advantage here but especially in the postseason it’s pretty well-known teams don’t want to play here. There’s a pretty good reason for that.”
