PHILADELPHIA (AP) — All Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber could do was smile as he surveyed the situation while heading to the plate Sunday in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tied game with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Phillies had pieced together an unlikely rally from a four-run deficit in the home half of the ninth and Schwarber was stepping in against St. Louis Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien.
It was at that point that Schwarber shot a grinning
glance at teammate Trea Turner.
“I’m just there chuckling, laughing and smiling with Trea (about) how we got to that point,” Schwarber said.
Schwarber then did his part.
“Then when the ball came off the bat, I stood there and watched. It was a little bit of a shock that we were able to do that in that fashion,” Schwarber said. “But that’s why you keep playing. That’s why you play all the outs. Never give up, and keep fighting until the end.”
The slugger fought to a 2-2 count, then took a swing that even he couldn’t downplay.
“It was awesome,” he said with a shrug. “Just a little bit of disbelief.”
The shot over the Citizens Bank Park “batter’s eye” traveled an estimated 459 feet, good for his major league-leading 39th home run, and a rather incredible 6-4 Phillies victory, their ninth straight.
It was the Phillies’ first walk-off win by home run since Schwarber accomplished the feat on July 9, 2023, against the Dodgers.
And, it was the most resounding blow during an August rebirth. In a few weeks’ time they’ve gone from falling behind in the wild-card race to erasing much of what seemed like an insurmountable Atlanta lead in the NL East. Pending the Braves’ game with Milwaukee Sunday night, the Phillies were 2 1/2 games back in the division.
To that end, there is no disbelief on Schwarber’s part. He pointed out that he and four teammates all had two strikes on them during their two-out at-bats in the ninth.
“I feel like it’s a lot of really good baseball, complete baseball,” he said. “It’s not like we’re out there just hitting homers and relying on that. I feel like there’s a lot of things we’re doing really well.”
Harper, who has reached base safely in 25 straight games, had led off the ninth with a double, but two quick outs later the fans started packing up. But J.T. Realmuto singled, Justin Crawford walked, and utility man Edmundo Sosa hit a three-run double. Then came a game-tying single by seldom-used Bryan De La Cruz, followed by the winning stroke by Schwarber.
All of that off O’Brien, who had stayed in the game even after mound visit by manager Oli Marmot as Schwarber waited to hit.
“We’re a winning team,” Sosa said. “We’re the Phillies. I can say we’re really surprised, but when we’re late in the game we never stop fighting.”
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