Kyle Schwarber silenced the critics with his seventh career grand slam, helping the Philadelphia Phillies break out of their mid-summer slump and secure a 9-5 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.
Desperate for a win after suffering a shutout loss to one of the weakest teams in baseball, the Phillies needed Schwarber’s big hit to end a four-game losing streak and improve to just eight wins in 24 games since the All-Star break.
“I think it was just more energy,” Schwarber said. “You could feel it in the stadium. I felt like that was a cool thing. I feel like our guys are doing a really good job of weathering whatever’s happened the last couple of weeks where we haven’t been playing our best baseball.”
Hours before the game, manager Rob Thomson suggested that a team meeting might be coming, and the Phillies delayed access to the clubhouse for reporters by 70 minutes. Thomson avoided discussing the meeting, saying only, “what happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse.”
The lineup was also a topic of discussion as Thomson made a notable change by benching All-Star shortstop Trea Turner. Turner, in the second season of a $300 million, 11-year contract, had been struggling with a .168 average and 20 strikeouts since the break and had only three hits in his last five games.
“It’s more time in the cage to hone his swing, get him off his feet, and just let him breathe for a minute,” Thomson said.
Tyler Phillips, a South Jersey native who grew up supporting the Phillies, gave up a three-run homer to Jonah Bride in the first inning, which seemed to set up an early possibility of another tough loss.
The Phillies reduced the deficit to 3-2 against Edward Cabrera (2-4) until Jesús Sánchez added a run-scoring single and Jonah Bride hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth, extending the lead to three runs.
In the fourth inning, with two outs and the bases loaded due to two singles and a walk, Schwarber hit his 28th homer of the season to left-center on a changeup, giving the Phillies a 6-5 lead.
The Phillies fans, who had been booing recently, cheered loudly for Schwarber’s go-ahead homer.
Cabrera allowed six runs in four innings and even threw a cooler in the dugout after giving up the grand slam.
“I attacked him with my best pitch, and I wouldn’t change anything,” Cabrera said.
José Ruiz (3-1) got the final two outs of the fifth inning to earn the win. Matt Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, José Alvarado, and Carlos Estévez combined to pitch four shutout innings with just two hits allowed.
Alec Bohm added an RBI single, and J.T. Realmuto broke the game open with a two-run double in the seventh, making it 9-5.
Since the All-Star break, the Phillies lost two out of three games to Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Cleveland, and Seattle, were swept by the Yankees in a three-game series, and had a 4-6 road trip against the Dodgers and Arizona.
Despite the recent struggles, the Phillies achieved their 70th win in the first 120 games of the season, which is the first time they have reached that mark since the 2011 NL East champions.
“We’ve got the right guys to get through this and come out better for it,” Schwarber said.
