Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper clubbed back-to-back home runs in the third inning, powering the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday. The win snapped a scoring drought for the Phillies, who had managed runs in just one of their previous 31 innings.
The Phillies trailed 2-0 entering the third after Arizona capitalized on a two-run first inning surrendered by starter Taijuan Walker. Fans at Citizens Bank Park had grown restless, booing the early fruitless at-bats amid Philadelphia's league-low 24th ranking in runs per game at 3.54. Alec Bohm sparked the rally by reaching on an error, followed by Justin Crawford's single past third base. Trea Turner struck out, but Schwarber crushed a 1-0 changeup from Arizona's Brandon Pfaadt for a three-run homer to right field, his fourth of the season. Harper followed with a solo shot on a 1-0 fastball into the center-field bullpen, his third homer, extending the lead to 4-2. Schwarber downplayed any desperation afterward, emphasizing the 162-game grind. 'I don’t want to qualify it like, ‘badly need’ anything,' he said. 'The biggest thing for us is not feeling like we need to go do something. If we stay within ourselves... we can do what we do on a daily basis.' Entering the game, Philadelphia's top three hitters—Turner, Schwarber and Harper—posted a combined .730 OPS, 15th in the majors, a drop from fifth place last season. Harper has heated up lately, batting .344 with three homers over his past nine games. Walker steadied after the rough start, and the Phillies bullpen preserved the lead for the narrow triumph.
