The Phillies spent $79 million to bring Kyle Schwarber to Philly because they believed his power bat would play well in their lineup and his postseason experience would be a compass on a club that needed help finding its way to the October
With 45,279 towel-waving madmen rocking Citizens Bank Park, Schwarber stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first inning Friday night and drove a full-count cutter off Joe Musgrove into the right-field seats. Schwarber’s 11th career postseason home run gave the Phillies an early lead and set an emotional tone as they won Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, 4-2, over the San Diego Padres.
The Phillies are up two games to one in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 set for Saturday night in South Philly.
While Schwarber got the Phillies going early, there were other stars. Jean Segura was a great. He hit a huge two-run single off a 1-2 slider off Musgrove in the bottom of the fourth inning to break a 1-1 tie and put the Phils ahead, 3-2.
Segura also made three outstanding defensive plays at second base, atoning for an error in the fourth inning. One of the plays was a diving gem to end the top of the seventh with a man on base behind reliever Jose Alvarado.
Three of the Phillies’ four runs came with two outs. In addition to Segura’s hit in the fourth, a hit to right field reminiscent of his hit in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the NL wild-card series at St. Louis, the Phils came back to … back-to-back doubles by Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm with two outs in the sixth to go up, 4-2.
Phillies starter Ranger Suarez pitched well, but exited after five innings with a 3-2 lead. It could have easily been a 3-0 lead as poor defense (and a defensive shift going awry) led to the two runs he gave up. Suarez allowed just two hits, and one was against the changeup, and threw just 68 pitches before manager Rob Thomson went to his bullpen.
At the time, Thomson’s decision to drop Suarez was a bit of a no-brainer. There was some initial speculation that Suarez might have tweaked a hamstring, but on the telecast, Thomson said he pulled Suarez because the left-hander hadn’t pitched in nine days and the Padres’ lineup was about to see him for the third time. This isn’t Jack Morris’ game anymore.
With dangerous right-handed hitters Manny Machado and Brandon Drury ready, Thomson walked Zach Eflin for the sixth and the right-hander survived a pair of singles and pitched a scoreless inning to preserve the one-run lead. Eflin got a lot of help from the defense as Segura and Bryson Stott combined to give a 4-6-3 double play to the worst Josh Bell to end the frame.
The double play sent another jolt of electricity through the huge crowd, and in the bottom of the inning, the Phils added a run to their lead on back-to-back two-out doubles by Castellanos and Bohm. Those hits chased Musgrove out of the game.
Thomson was a big factor in the Phillies snapping a 10-year postseason drought. This was a club that was at a dead end when he took over for Joe Girardi on June 3rd. Many of Thomson’s plays have paid off over the past five months, and his decision to go to the bullpen early this one certainly proved to be a winner.
However, Thomson’s decision to lift Suarez after five innings meant the bullpen had to pick up four innings, not ideal considering the Phillies will be leaning on that unit to get through Game 4 on Saturday night . Bailey Falter will start this game. The Phils would like to see him go through the Padres lineup once — nine outs — before a series of relievers try to get the next 18 outs. The Phils used this strategy in the NLDS clincher against Atlanta and it worked brilliantly as six pitchers recorded 15 strikeouts and no walks.
Eflin and Alvarado combined for six strikeouts in Friday night’s win. Eflin threw 17 pitches and Alvarado threw 27. At this time of year, both should be available Saturday. It remains to be seen if Seranthony DomÃnguez will be available or not. He threw 34 pitches to get the final six outs of the game. But it was all worth it. He got the save, the Phillies got the win and are now two wins away from the World Series.
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