The Phillies had scored in one of their last 31 innings entering the third inning on Saturday afternoon. They were already down 2-0 and the boo birds were out at Citizens Bank Park. Then Alec Bohm reached on an error, Justin Crawford slapped a base hit through the left side, and Kyle Schwarber came up to the plate.<\/p>\n
First pitch almost drilled him. Second pitch was a changeup left over the middle. Schwarber parked it in the right field seats. 3-2 Phillies just like that.<\/p>\n
Kyle Schwarber Go-Ahead 3-Run Home Run<\/p>\n
Then Bryce Harper walked up. Pfaadt missed badly on the first pitch again. Left a fastball over the middle on the second. Harper sent it into the Phillies bullpen. Back to back home runs and a crowd of 41,000 people on a rare Saturday afternoon start went absolutely nuts.<\/p>\n
That was the game. Four-run third inning, 4-3 final, a much needed win against a team the Phillies had to beat after dropping the series opener.<\/p>\n
Bryce Harper Goes Back-to-Back<\/a><\/p>\n Welcome back, Bryce Harper<\/p>\n The first five games of the season Harper was 2-for-20 and hearing it from the crowd. Since homering for the first time against the Nationals he has been a completely different hitter. Over his last nine games he is slashing .344\/.447\/.750 with seven extra-base hits. That is the Bryce Harper this lineup was built around and he is showing up right when the offense needed someone to step up.<\/p>\n Taijuan Walker gave up a Ketel Marte homer on the third pitch of the game and immediately issued a walk and allowed a run-scoring bloop single. The first inning has been his problem for years. Since arriving in Philadelphia he has posted an 8.27 ERA in the first inning across 70 career starts with 17 home runs allowed in opening frames. It is a real thing.<\/p>\n But he settled in and gave the Phillies five innings of four-hit two-run ball with six strikeouts. Since the start of last season Walker has a 3.07 ERA after the first inning. He is a completely different pitcher once he survives the opening frame. The Phillies will take five innings of that while they wait for Wheeler.<\/p>\n Zack Wheeler is coming<\/a>. Two more rehab starts and he slots back into the rotation near the end of the month. When that happens Walker shifts to the bullpen where he was genuinely useful last season posting a 3.15 ERA in 13 relief appearances.<\/p>\n Whether you can fully rely on Walker is certainly up for debate, but there\u2019s no denying that depth is a good thing to have.<\/p>\n Bohm was dropped to eighth in the order and went 0-for-4 but hit two balls harder than 100 mph. The hard contact is starting to come back even if the results are not there yet. The bottom of the lineup continues to be the most reliable part of this offense, which is not the way this team expected it to go in April.<\/p>\n The rubber game is Sunday. Win it and take the series. The offense is starting to show signs of life. Let\u2019s see if it carries over.<\/p>\n Join The Chase<\/a><\/p>\n Like this:<\/p>\n Like Loading…<\/p>\n