By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rookie pitcher Tyler Phillips thanked Kyle Schwarber for keeping the Philadelphia Phillies in the game after the designated hitter’s second home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Schwarber finished with three homers and tied a career high with seven RBIs in a 9-4 victory Wednesday night. The Phillies won two of three in the matchup of the National League’s two best teams.
“He was telling me, ‘Aww, that was huge what you did. You kept us in the game,'” said Phillips, who rebounded after the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead after two innings.
“I was like, ‘Dude, you just kind of gave us the lead. That was huge what you did,'” Phillips said.
Schwarber downplayed his exploits to the point where he and Phillips “were almost like getting in an argument,” the pitcher said. “It was really cool to be able to put a lot of faith in him.”
Schwarber led off the game with a two-strike shot off Gavin Stone, his 10th leadoff homer of the season.
He added a three-run blast in the sixth that gave Philadelphia an 8-4 lead.
Schwarber hit his 27th homer of the season leading off the ninth against Michael Grove. It was his second career three-run homer game, the last coming in 2021.
“I always say the biggest thing is just being able to trust your work in the cage,” Schwarber said. “You make adjustments, make tweaks, whatever it is, and you just go out there and compete in the game. It was a good result.”
The seven RBIs were the most by a Phillies player since Carlos Ruiz had that many against Atlanta in 2012.
“It’s really special,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “It seems like there are times when we’re in a bit of a slump and he injects a bit of energy into the club with a leadoff home run or a big home run. He’s a lot like (Bryce) Harper that way.”
The designated hitter also homered Tuesday in a victory, giving him homers in back-to-back games for the fourth time this season.
Schwarber notched his fifth multi-homer game and 30th multi-hit game of the season.
It was the first three-homer game by a Dodgers opponent since Arizona’s AJ Pollock on April 30, 2018, and by a Dodgers opponent in Los Angeles since J.D. Martinez had four homers for Arizona on Sept. 4, 2017.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb