Schwarber has the night of his life in the Phillies’ energetic comeback against the Dodgers

Schwarber has the night of his life in the Phillies’ energetic comeback against the Dodgers, originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES — With his team cruising toward a seventh straight series loss, Kyle Schwarber had the night of his life with an energetic comeback win for the Phillies that ended a three-game losing streak at Dodger Stadium.

Schwarber hit a home run to lead off the game, doubled for two runs in the fifth inning, fired a rocket into the right-center stands for a three-run home run in the sixth inning and ended the game with another solo home run to center field in the ninth inning.

Three home runs, seven RBI.

The Phillies won 9-4 after trailing by three runs in the fifth inning. They lost Monday’s series opener, but came back to win Tuesday and Wednesday to clinch the series. They have won three of four games and appear to be returning to form after losing 14 of 19.

The Phillies are 68-46, 2½ games ahead of the Dodgers, and have the best record in the National League. They also have the best record in the majors.

Schwarber is, perhaps quietly, having a banner year. He hasn’t hit as much power, but he has made significantly more contact and has become a more complete hitter. He’s slashing .260/.390/.504 on the season with 27 homers, 73 RBI and a National League-leading 82 walks. The only other major leaguers to match or surpass his OBP and home run total are Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.

Schwarber also hit .340 against left-handed pitchers, raising his career average against lefties from .183 to .223 in less than one season.

“Just the fact that he wanted to reduce his strikeouts this year, that’s all clear,” manager Rob Thomson said before the game. “Now he’s staying on the ball, he’s brought his swing back to two strikes, there’s a little bit of a two-strike approach. The average is going up, he’s putting the ball in play more, the base hits are going up because he’s getting more hits. It all works hand in hand.

“The fact that he’s doing this at this point in his career is really smart. It shows me how much he cares about others and how adaptable he is.”

He didn’t have nearly as great a night as Schwarber, but Johan Rojas’ fingerprints were all over Wednesday’s win. Rojas came in the third after Austin Hays suffered a hamstring injury and closed the fourth with one of the Phillies’ best defensive plays of the season, a 64-foot gallop and leap to the wall in right-center to rob Teoscar Hernandez of extra bases.

The next half-inning, Rojas hit an infield single to turn the lineup around and send the tying run home with one out. He stole second and scored when Schwarber doubled.

When he came back up, Rojas worked a walk from Joe Kelly to load the bases for Schwarber in a tie game. Kelly threw a wild pitch that scored Brandon Marsh, and a few pitches later, Schwarber added his exclamation point.

The Phillies’ huge inning was made possible by an obstruction call by third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt, who ruled that Kiké Hernandez inadvertently interfered with Alec Bohm’s slide to third on a bunt by Marsh. Hernandez inadvertently did so as he ran to the bag to make the tag. Such a call is not reviewable, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was ejected after a passionate exchange.

Nick Castellanos stayed hot with two doubles, a walk and a hit by pitch. He had multiple hits in all three games of the series and is hitting .288 with 20 doubles, two triples and nine homers in 242 plate appearances since May 29.

It took all the offense to close an early hole, but starting pitcher Tyler Phillips held up his end of the bargain by settling in after two shaky innings. The Dodgers came to him for two runs in a long first inning and scored two more in the second on a bloop single by Freddie Freeman, but Phillips allowed just one baserunner in his final three innings. He also quietly retired Ohtani in the infield all three times he faced him.

It was a stunning comeback after Phillips gave up three homers and eight runs without surviving the second inning on Friday night in Seattle.

The Phillies now head to Chase Field, a venue with painful memories of the 2023 NLCS. The Diamondbacks are the best team in baseball, 12-2 over the past two weeks while averaging more than 7.0 runs per game.