Thursday, October 1, 2026
73 ° Clear
73 ° Clear
PHILADELPHIA – The race to 400 career home runs might officially be on in South Philly.
For a second straight game, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper each homered, powering the Phillies to a 6-2 series clinching win on Sunday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Schwarber’s three-run, second deck blast in the second inning got a packed Citizens Bank Park jumping, giving the Phillies a 5-0 lead after the offense pushed across a pair of first inning runs.
It was his fourth homer in the last two games after he bashed three on Saturday in the Phillies historic middle game victory.
The slugging designated hitter is now 31 home runs shy from 400 in his career and on pace for 60+ homers this season.
Harper, who became just the 11th Phillie to hit for the cycle, switched back to his 35-ounce bat after striking out with a custom Victus bat in his first at-bat of the game.
It paid off.
After doubling in the ensuing plate appearance with the heavier lumber, he led off the fifth inning crushing an Austin Warren sweeper for a line drive solo shot to make it a 6-1 game. ‘
Harper is 20 homers shy of hitting the 400 career milestone and on pace for 36 this season, which would be the most he’s hit since joining the Phillies.
On the mound, Zack Wheeler turned in another solid start. He lasted 5 ⅔ innings allowing two earned runs on four hits, walked three and struck out seven.
The veteran tried to gut his way through six complete innings and convinced Mattingly to keep him in to face at least one more batter in the fifth inning. He got A.J. Ewing to hit into an RBI fielder’s choice to make it a 6-2 ballgame.
Mattingly came out of the first base dugout to get Wheeler and called upon Jonathan Bowlan who stranded a pair of inherited runners at the corners striking out Marcus Semien on four pitches.
“Zack is alway Zack. You know he’s going to keep you there,” Mattingly said. “He did battle. It did seem like the first couple of innings were long. But as the innings got shorter, he got rolling, but it seemed like as it got late he lost the zone a little bit.”
“I asked him if he had one more hitter,” Mattingly said of the conversation he and Wheeler had on the mound. “I really wanted one more hitter and I always feel good about him. I really wanted him to get Ewing there.”
The Phillies are 17-4 in games started by Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez since Wheeler made his season debut on April 25.
The Phillies improved to 17-5 against the Mets at Citizens Bank Park since 2023 and 34-17 since snapping their 10-game losing streak back on April 25, also the day Wheeler was activated off the IL. That record is the best in MLB during that stretch.
The team hits the road and begins a seven-day road trip starting with a four-game set against the Washington Nationals starting on Monday with first pitch scheduled for 6:45 p.m.
