June may be over, but that doesn’t mean Kyle Schwarber’s torrid streak is done. The leftfielder cranked two mammoth shots in Tuesday night’s Phillies’ rout over the Nationals.
The Phils ran away with this one 11-0 on the strength of stellar performances up and down the lineup and 5.0 strong innings from rookie left-hander Cristopher Sánchez.
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Schwarber led things off with a blast to dead centerfield in the Phillies’ first at-bat of the game, and things only went up from there. Another titanic Schwarber shot to rightfield doubled the Phils’ lead in the third, and they tacked on four more over the next two innings. The wheels really came off for the Nationals in the sixth, when the Phillis scored five more runs to bring their total to 11.
Recent call up Cristopher Sánchez performed admirably in a spot start, needing only 60 pitches to breeze through 5.0 innings. He surrendered only two hits and two walks, while punching out two Nationals hitters. Possessing a 3.48 ERA on the year, and seeing as both Zach Eflin and Ranger Suárez are currently on the shelf, Sánchez may have earned himself another turn or two through the rotation with tonight’s stellar performance. Jeurys Familia tossed a rare clean inning of relief, while Andrew Bellatti threw his own scoreless frame in the seventh, and endearing rookie Mark Appel finished things off with two scoreless innings.
There was no shortage of standouts tonight in the Phillies’ offense, as every player in the starting lineup aside from Rhys Hoskins and Mickey Moniak registered at least one hit. Hoskins is allowed to have an off night after tearing the cover off the ball lately, and Moniak for his part had a tremendous diving catch in centerfield. J.T. Realmuto launched a fifth inning opposite field two-run shot off of Erasmo Ramírez to make it a 6-0 ballgame, while Nick Castellanos, Darick Hall and Alec Bohm all collected multiple hits on the night.
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It was an all around perfect game for the Phillies, as everyone did exactly what they’re supposed to do. Schwarber is picking up the slack in the wake of Bryce Harper’s broken thumb, while Castellanos seems to be coming out of his ice cold start to the season. With the bullpen firing on all cylinders and the starting rotation going above and beyond, the Phillies are in good shape in early June. This Phillies’ rout of the Nationals, and the Cardinals’ loss to the Braves moves the Phils into the final wildcard spot in the National League. We’re barely halfway through the season, but as things stand the Phillies have a good shot at playing meaningful October baseball for the first time in a decade.