Schwarber hammers 40th homer, Turner hit streak at 15 games in win

SAN DIEGO -- José Alvarado pumped his fist a few times, slapped himself in the chest and hollered.

“A lot of emotions,” he said following Monday’s 9-7 victory over the Padres at Petco Park.

The Phillies watched an 8-1 lead in the third inning dwindle to two by the seventh. Craig Kimbrel walked two in the eighth but escaped. Alvarado walked the first two he faced in the ninth, but he retired the next two batters then struck out Ha-Seong Kim swinging on a 3-2 cutter to end the game.

• Games remaining: at SD (2), vs. MIA (3), vs. ATL (4), at STL (3), at ATL (3), vs. NYM (4), vs. PIT (3), at NYM (3)

• Standings update: Phillies hold a 2 1/2-game lead over the Cubs for the top NL Wild Card spot with 25 games to play

“When I threw Kim the first cutter [at 1-1], I said, ‘This guy, no chance,’” Alvarado said. “3-1 count, I throw my sinker. He swung. And now he doesn’t know what’s coming because those two pitches tonight were good.

“I said, ‘OK, if you want a homer, if you want a walk-off, good luck.’”

The Phillies’ bullpen has not lost its swagger, even during its recent struggles. The Phillies blew a one-run lead in the ninth inning Wednesday in a loss to the Angels. They blew a two-run lead in the eighth on Friday in a loss to the Brewers. It was the first time the team blew saves in the eighth inning or later in consecutive games and lost since the first two games of the 2016 season.

“There’s no concern from us,” Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber said. “It’s the game of baseball. You’re going to go through times where you’re hot, and then there’s times when you might not feel like you’re at your best. You have to grind your way through some things.”

Something similar happened last year. The Phillies blew a seven-run lead in a 13-7 loss in Arizona on Aug. 29, 2022. The bullpen struggled the next few weeks, but it straightened out in time to help the Phillies win the National League.

“If you told me that we were taking that bullpen into a three-game set with someone, I'd put them up with the best of them,” Schwarber said.

In the meantime, the Phillies’ offense will pick up the pitching staff like it picked up the offense in the season’s first few months.

Schwarber hit his 40th home run of the season in the fifth inning. It is the 15th 40-homer season in Phillies history.

Schwarber’s OPS is up to .813, which is tied for 43rd out of 138 qualified hitters in MLB.

“I think I’ve been a topic of conversation for a little bit,” Schwarber said, when asked to assess his season. “I guess the WAR stat doesn't like me. Heck, do I like seeing a .193 [batting average]? No. Do I wish I was hitting higher? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, I have to find a way to be a productive player for the team and help the team win. If that's walking, if it's driving in runs, scoring runs, whatever it is -- that's what I have to do. The average part is frustrating, obviously. But everything else has been there. It's kind of like the double-edged sword, right? But if we keep winning baseball games, heck, that's all that matters.”

Trea Turner singled in the first inning, giving him a 15-game hitting streak. He hit a two-run home run in the second. It was Turner’s seventh homer in seven games. It was his ninth consecutive game with an RBI. The last Phillies player to have an RBI streak that long was Chase Utley, who had a nine-game streak from May 25 – June 3, 2008.

Turner has a 1.162 OPS in 28 games since Aug. 4. Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins are the only two Phillies since 2013 to have 28-game stretches with a 1.162 OPS or better. Harper had stretches like that in 2021, '22 and '23. Rhys Hoskins had stretches like that in 2017 and '21.

Alec Bohm cleared the bases with a double in the first. He has 86 RBIs. He could be the first Phillies third baseman (minimum 50 percent of games played at third) to have 100 RBIs in a season since Scott Rolen’s 107 RBIs in 2001.

Then there is Bryson Stott, who snapped a 0-for-16 skid with four hits.

“It's good for us if we can help them out a little bit when they might not be at their best,” Schwarber said. “That's why it's a team. The more that we help each other out, pick each other up, we get to where we need to be. Anything can happen from there.”