This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Kyle Schwarber is heating up his power bat at a good time for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Schwarber has gone deep five times in the past four games, topped by the second three-homer game of his career, as the Phillies enter the opener of a four-game series on Thursday against the streaking Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
The set is a rematch of last season’s National League Championship Series, during which the Diamondbacks went on the road to win the final two contests of the seven-game series and record a major upset.
Schwarber certainly wasn’t to blame for Philadelphia’s stunning postseason collapse. He swatted five homers, but all were of the solo variety.
He was at his best on Wednesday, belting three homers while matching his career high of seven RBIs in a 9-4 road victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Schwarber homered leading off the first inning, then contributed a two-run double in the fifth, a three-run homer in the sixth and a solo blast in the ninth.
“The biggest thing is just being able to come through for the team,” said Schwarber, who increased his season homer tally to 27. “There were a lot of other cool things that were done by guys today.”
The NL East-leading Phillies have won three of their past four games after losing 12 of their previous 15.
The two teams met in Philadelphia in June, when the Phillies claimed two of the three from the Diamondbacks.
Arizona swept a road doubleheader from the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday, running its winning streak to four games and improving to 14-4 since the All-Star break.
The impressive run goes deeper than that, too. Arizona is 10-0-1 over its past 11 series and has prevailed in 24 of its past 33 games.
The Diamondbacks went more than three months without being above .500 until cracking the barrier on July 12. Now they sit 11 games over the break-even mark and are tied with the San Diego Padres for the NL’s top wild-card spot.
Josh Bell hit two homers in Arizona’s 5-3 win in Game 2 on Wednesday. He has gone deep four times in six games since being acquired from the Miami Marlins.
Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll each homered as the Diamondbacks took the Wednesday opener 7-3. Carroll has six homers in his past 19 games after slugging just three in his previous 92 appearances this season.
“We revolve around him,” Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt said of Carroll. “He’s had his struggles, but regardless — we’re playing ball around him. He’s able to do it on both sides of the plate and that speaks volumes to the type of player he is.”
Struggling left-hander Jordan Montgomery (7-5, 6.37 ERA) will start the series opener for Arizona.
Montgomery, 31, defeated the Phillies on June 21 when he gave up two runs and five hits over six innings. Overall, he is 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA in two career starts against Philadelphia.
Bryce Harper is 2-for-5 in the regular season against Montgomery.
Despite his poor campaign, Montgomery has won four of his past five decisions.
Left-hander Kolby Allard (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will start for the Phillies. This will be his third major league appearance and second start of the season.
Allard was the second pitcher into the game against the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, and he gave up one run and two hits over four innings.
Allard, who turns 27 on Tuesday, has pitched against Arizona just once in his career. He gave up one hit in two shutout innings of relief in 2020.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is 2-for-2 against Allard.
Phillies outfielder Austin Hays (left hamstring tightness) left the Wednesday game against the Dodgers in the third inning.
–Field Level Media
